1Again the Word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, 2Son of man, speak to the children of your people, and say to them: When I bring the sword upon a land, and the people of the land take a man from their borders and make him their watchman, 3when he sees the sword coming upon the land, if he blows the shofar and warns the people, 4then whoever listens to hear the sound of the shofar and does not take warning, if the sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be on his own head. 5He heard the sound of the shofar, but did not take warning; his blood shall be upon himself. But he who takes warning will save his soul. 6But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the shofar, and the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any soul from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity. But his blood I will require at the watchman’s hand. 7So you, son of man: I have made you a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore you shall hear the Word from My mouth and warn them from Me. 8When I say to the wicked, O wicked man, you shall die the death! and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand. 9Nevertheless if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul. 10Therefore you, O son of man, say to the house of Israel: Thus you say, If our transgressions and our sins lie upon us, and we pine away in them, how can we then live? 11Say to them: As I live, declares the Lord Jehovah, I take no delight in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! For why will you die, O house of Israel? 12Therefore you, O son of man, say to the children of your people: The righteousness of the righteous man shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression. As for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall because of it in the day that he turns from his wickedness; nor shall the righteous be able to live because of his righteousness in the day that he sins. 13When I say to the righteous that he shall live life, but he trusts in his own righteousness and commits iniquity, none of all his righteousness shall be remembered; but because of the iniquity that he has done, he shall die. 14Again, when I say to the wicked, You shall die the death; if he turns from his sin and does justice and righteousness, 15if the wicked restores the pledge, gives back what he has stolen, and walks in the statutes of life, not committing iniquity, he shall live life; he shall not die. 16None of all his sins which he has sinned shall be remembered against him; he has done justice and righteousness; he shall live life. 17Yet the children of your people say, The way of Jehovah is not fair. But as for them, it is their way which is not fair! 18When the righteous turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, he shall die because of it. 19But when the wicked turns from his wickedness and does justice and righteousness, he shall live because of it. 20Yet you say, The way of Jehovah is not fair. O house of Israel, I shall judge each one of you according to his ways. 21And it came to pass in the twelfth year of our captivity, in the tenth month, on the fifth day of the month, that one who had escaped from Jerusalem came to me and said, The city has been struck! 22Now the hand of Jehovah had been upon me the evening before the man came who had escaped. And He had opened my mouth; so when he came to me in the morning, my mouth was opened, and I was no longer mute. 23Then the Word of Jehovah came unto me, saying: 24Son of man, they who inhabit the ruins in the land of Israel are saying, Abraham was one, and he took possession of the land. But we are many; the land is given to us as a possession. 25Therefore say to them, Thus says the Lord Jehovah: You eat meat with blood, you lift up your eyes toward your idols, and shed blood. Shall you then possess the land? 26You rely on your sword, you commit abominations, and you defile each one his neighbor’s wife. Shall you then possess the land? 27Say thus to them, Thus says the Lord Jehovah: As I live, surely those who are in the ruins shall fall by the sword, and the one who is in the open field I will give to the beasts to be devoured, and those who are in the strongholds and caves shall die of the pestilence. 28For I will make the land a desolate waste, her arrogant strength shall cease, and the mountains of Israel shall be so desolate that no one will pass through. 29Then they shall know that I am Jehovah, when I have made the land a desolate waste because of all their abominations which they have done. 30As for you, son of man, the children of your people are talking about you beside the walls and in the doors of the houses; and they speak to one another, everyone saying to his brother, Please come and hear what the Word is that comes from Jehovah. 31So they come to you as people do, they sit before you as My people, and they hear your words, but they do not do them; for with their mouth they act out love, but their hearts go after their unjust gain. 32Indeed you are to them as a singer of love songs, as one who has a pleasant voice and can play well on an instrument; for they hear your words, but they do not do them. 33So when this comes to pass (surely it will come); then they will know that a prophet has been among them.