The Watchman’s Duty

1 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

2 “Son of man, speak to the asons of your people and say to them, ‘If I bring a sword upon a land, and the people of the land take one man from among them and make him their watchman,

3 and he sees the sword coming upon the land and ablows on the trumpet and warns the people,

4 then he who hears the sound of the trumpet and adoes not take warning, and a sword comes and takes him away, his bblood will be on his own head.

5 ‘He heard the sound of the trumpet but did not take warning; his blood will be on himself. But had he taken warning, he would have adelivered his life.

6 ‘But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet and the people are not warned, and a sword comes and takes a person from them, he is ataken away 1in his iniquity; but his bblood I will require from the watchman’s hand.’

7 “Now as for you, son of man, I have 1aappointed you a watchman for the house of Israel; so you will hear a 2message from My mouth and give them bwarning from Me.

8 “When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you will asurely die,’ 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 from your hand.

9 “But if you on your part warn a wicked man to turn from his way and he adoes not turn from his way, he will die in his iniquity, but you have bdelivered your life.

10 “Now as for you, son of man, say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus you have spoken, saying, “Surely our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we are arotting away in them; bhow then can we 1survive?” ’

11 “Say to them, ‘aAs I live!’ declares the Lord 1God, ‘I take bno pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked cturn from his way and live. dTurn back, turn back from your evil ways! Why then will you die, O house of Israel?’

12 “And you, son of man, say to 1your fellow citizens, ‘The arighteousness of a righteous man will not deliver him in the day of his transgression, and as for the wickedness of the wicked, he will bnot stumble because of it in the day when he turns from his wickedness; whereas a righteous man will not be able to live 2by his righteousness on the day when he commits sin.’

13 “When I say to the righteous he will surely live, and he so trusts in his righteousness that he acommits iniquity, none of his righteous deeds will be remembered; but in that same iniquity of his which he has committed he will die.

14 “But when I say to the wicked, ‘You will surely die,’ and he aturns from his sin and practices bjustice and righteousness,

15 if a wicked man restores a pledge, apays back what he has taken by robbery, walks by the bstatutes 1which ensure life without committing iniquity, he shall surely live; he shall not die.

16 “aNone of his sins that he has committed will be remembered against him. He has practiced justice and righteousness; he shall surely live.

17 “Yet 1your fellow citizens say, ‘The way of the Lord is not right,’ when it is their own way that is not right.

18 “When the righteous turns from his righteousness and acommits iniquity, then he shall die in 1it.

19 “But when the wicked turns from his wickedness and practices justice and righteousness, he will live by them.

20 “Yet you say, ‘aThe way of the Lord is not right.’ O house of Israel, I will judge each of you according to his ways.”

Word of Jerusalem’s Capture

21 Now ain the btwelfth year of our exile, on the fifth of the tenth month, the 1refugees from Jerusalem came to me, saying, “cThe city has been 2taken.”

22 Now the ahand of the Lord had been upon me in the evening, before the 1refugees came. And He bopened my mouth 2at the time they came to me in the morning; so my mouth was copened and I was no longer 3speechless.

23 Then the word of the Lord came to me saying,

24 “Son of man, they who alive in these waste places in the land of Israel are saying, ‘bAbraham was only one, yet he possessed the land; so to cus who are many the land has been given as a possession.’

25 “Therefore say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “You eat meat with the ablood in it, lift up your eyes to your idols as you shed blood. bShould you then possess the land?

26 “You 1arely on your sword, you commit abominations and each of you defiles his neighbor’s wife. Should you then possess the land?” ’

27 “Thus you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “As I live, surely those who are in the waste places will afall by the sword, and whoever is in the 1open field I will give to the beasts to be devoured, and those who are in the strongholds and in the bcaves will die of pestilence.

28 “I will amake the land a desolation and a waste, and the bpride of her power will cease; and the mountains of Israel will be desolate so that no one will pass through.

29 “Then they will know that I am the Lord, when I make the land a desolation and a waste because of all their abominations which they have committed.” ’

30 “But as for you, son of man, 1your fellow citizens who talk about you by the walls and in the doorways of the houses, speak to one another, each to his brother, saying, ‘aCome now and hear what the 2message is which comes forth from the Lord.’

31 “They come to you as people come, and sit before you as My people and hear your words, but they do not do them, for they do the lustful desires expressed by their amouth, and their heart goes after their bgain.

32 “Behold, you are to them like a sensual song by one who has a abeautiful voice and plays well on an instrument; for they hear your words but they do not practice them.

33 “So when it acomes to pass—1as surely it will—then they will know that a prophet has been in their midst.”