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¹ And the Word of Jehovah was to me, saying,² Son of man, speak to the sons of your people and say to them: When I bring the sword on it, on a land, and take one man from the people of the land, their borders, and set him for a watchman to them,³ and when he sees the sword coming on the land, and he blows the ram's horn and warns the people,⁴ and the hearer hearing the sound of the ram's horn, and does not take warning, and the sword comes and takes him; his blood shall be on his own head.⁵ He heard the sound of the ram's horn and took no warning; his blood shall be on himself. But he who took warning, he shall deliver his soul.⁶ But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the ram's horn, and the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes a soul from them, he is taken in his iniquity. But I will require his blood from the watchman's hand.⁷ And you, son of man, I gave you as a watchman to the house of Israel. And you shall hear the Word from My mouth and warn them from Me.⁸ When I say to the wicked, O wicked one, dying you shall die! And you do not speak to warn the wicked one from his way, that wicked one shall die in his iniquity, but I will require his blood from your hand.⁹ But you, if you warn the wicked from his way, to turn from it, and he does not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul.

¹⁰ And you, son of man, say to the house of Israel, This you have spoken, saying, Surely our transgressions and our sins are on us, and we are rotting in them, even then shall we live?¹¹ Say to them, As I live, declares the Lord Jehovah, I do not have delight in the death of the wicked, except in the wicked turning from his way, and so to live. Turn! Turn from yourevil ways! For why will you die, O house ofIsrael?¹² And you, son of man, say to the sons of your people, The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him in the day of his trespass. And the evil of the evil, in the day he turns from his wickedness, he shall not fall by it. And therighteous shall not be able to live by it in the day he sins.¹³ Though I say to the righteous, Living he shall live, yet he trusts in his own righteousness and commits iniquity, all his righteousness shall not be remembered; but he shall die for his iniquity which he has done.¹⁴ And though I say to the wicked, Dying you shall die; if he turns from his sin and does justice and righteousness,¹⁵ if the wicked returns the pledge, he repays the thing stolen, he walks in the statutes of life, not doing iniquity, living he shall live; he shall not die.¹⁶ All his sins which he has sinned shall not be remembered to him; he has done justice and righteousness, living he shall live.¹⁷ Yet the sons of your people say, The way of the Lord is not fair. But they, even their way is not fair.¹⁸ When the righteous turns from his righteousness and does iniquity, he shall even die by them.¹⁹ But if the wicked turns from his wickedness, and does justice and righteousness, he shall live by them.²⁰ Yet you say, The way of the Lord is not fair. I shall judge you, each man by his ways, O house of Israel.

²¹ And it happened in the twelfth year, in the tenth month , on the fifth of the month of our exile, a fugitive out of Jerusalem came to me, saying, The city has been stricken.²² And the hand of Jehovah was on me in the evening before the fugitive came. And He opened my mouth until that one came in the morning. And my mouth was opened, and I was no longer dumb.²³ And the Word of Jehovah was to me, saying,²⁴ Son of man, those living in the ruins are speaking, these in the land of Israel, saying, Abraham was one, and he possessed the land; but we are many, the land is given to us for a possession.²⁵ So say to them, So says the Lord Jehovah: You eat on the blood, and you lift your eyes up to your idols, and you shed blood. And shall you possess the land?²⁶ You stand on your sword, and you each do abominations, defiling his neighbor's wife. And shall you possess the land?²⁷ Say this to them, So says the Lord Jehovah: As I live, do not those in the ruins fall by the sword? And I will give the one who is on the face of the field to the beasts to beeaten, and those in the forts and in thecaves shall die by the plague.²⁸ For I shall make the land desolate and a waste, and the pride of her strength shall cease. And the heights of Israel shall be a waste that none will go through.²⁹ And they shall know that I am Jehovah, when I have made the land desolate and a waste because of all their abominations which they have done.

³⁰ And you, son of man, the sons of your people are speaking about you beside the walls, and in the doors of the houses. And one speaks to another, each man with his brother, saying, Come now and hear what the Word coming from Jehovah is.³¹ And they come to you as people come, and they sit before you as My people. And they hear your words, but they do not do them. For they produce much love with their mouth, but their heart goes after their unjust gain.³² And, behold, you are to them as a singer of love songs with a beautiful voice, and playing well on an instrument. For they hear your words, but they are not doing them.³³ So when it comes (behold, it is coming!), then they will know that a prophet has been in their midst.