1And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying:
2Son of man, speak to the children of your people, and say to them: When I bring a sword against a land, and the people of the land take one man from among them and set him for themselves as a watchman,
3and he sees the sword coming against the land, and he blows the horn and warns the people—
4then if anyone hears the sound of the horn but does not take warning, and the sword comes and takes him away, his blood will be on his own head.
5He heard the sound of the horn but did not take warning; his blood will be on himself. But had he taken warning, he would have saved his life.
6But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the horn, and the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes a life from among them—that person is taken away in his iniquity, but I will require his blood from the hand of the watchman.
7Now you, son of man, I have set you as a watchman for the house of Israel. When you hear a word from my mouth, you shall warn them from me.
8When I say to the wicked, ‘Wicked one, you shall surely die,’ and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man will die in his iniquity, but I will require his blood from your hand.
9But if you have warned the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, he will die in his iniquity, but you have delivered your life.
10Now 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 because of them we are rotting away; how then can we live?’
11Say to them: As I live, declares the Lord Yahweh, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! Why should you die, O house of Israel?
12Now you, son of man, say to the children of your people: The righteousness of the righteous will not deliver him in the day of his transgression, and the wickedness of the wicked—he will not stumble by it in the day he turns from his wickedness; nor will the righteous be able to live by it in the day he sins.
13When I say to the righteous, ‘He shall surely live,’ but he trusts in his righteousness and commits injustice, none of his righteous deeds will be remembered; and for his injustice that he has done, by it he will die.
14And when I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ but he turns from his sin and does justice and righteousness—
15if the wicked restores the pledge, repays what he has robbed, and walks in the statutes of life without committing injustice, he shall surely live; he will not die.
16None of his sins that he has sinned will be remembered against him; he has done justice and righteousness—he shall surely live.
17Yet the children of your people say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ But it is their own way that is not just.
18When the righteous turns from his righteousness and commits injustice, he will die for it.
19And when the wicked turns from his wickedness and does justice and righteousness, by them he will live.
20Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ I will judge each of you according to his ways, O house of Israel.
21Now in the twelfth year, in the tenth month, on the fifth of the month, of our exile, the fugitive from Jerusalem came to me, saying, ‘The city has been struck down.’
22Now the hand of Yahweh had been upon me in the evening before the fugitive came, and he opened my mouth before he came to me in the morning. So my mouth was opened, and I was no longer mute.
23And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying:
24Son of man, the inhabitants of these ruins on the soil of Israel are saying, ‘Abraham was but one, yet he possessed the land; and we are many—to us the land has been given as a possession.’
25Therefore say to them: Thus says the Lord Yahweh: You eat with the blood, you lift up your eyes to your idols, and you shed blood—shall you then possess the land?
26You have stood upon your sword, you have committed abomination, and each of you has defiled his neighbor’s wife—shall you then possess the land?
27Thus you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord Yahweh: As I live, surely those who are in the ruins will fall by the sword, and whoever is out in the open field I will give to the wild beasts to devour, and those in the strongholds and in the caves will die by plague.
28And I will make the land a desolation and a waste, and the pride of her strength will cease, and the mountains of Israel will be desolate, with none passing through.
29Then they will know that I am Yahweh, when I make the land a desolation and a waste because of all their abominations that they have committed.
30Now you, son of man, the children of your people are talking about you beside the walls and in the doorways of the houses; and one speaks with another, each with his brother, saying, ‘Come now and hear what the word is that comes forth from Yahweh.’
31And 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 with their mouths they make displays of desire, yet their heart goes after their unjust gain.
32And behold, you are to them like a love song, one with a beautiful voice and skillful at playing; they hear your words, but they do not do them.
33And when it comes — behold, it is coming — then they will know that a prophet has been in their midst.
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