Ezekiel 33:1–9

The Watchman’s Duty

¹And 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,

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

⁴then 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.