1And the word of Yehovah came to me, saying, 2Son of man, speak to the children of your people, and say to them, When I bring the sword on a land, and the people of the land take a man from among them, and set him as their watchman; 3if, when he sees the sword coming on the land, he blows the trumpet, and warns the people; 4then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet, 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 trumpet, and did not take warning; his blood shall be on him; whereas if he had taken warning, he would have delivered his soul. 6But if the watchman sees the sword coming, and does not blow the trumpet, and the people are not warned, and the sword comes, and takes any person 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 set you as a watchman to the house of Israel; therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me. 8When I say to the wicked, O wicked man, you shall surely 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 at your hand. 9Nevertheless, if you warn the wicked of 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. 10And you, son of man, say to the house of Israel: Thus you speak, saying, Our transgressions and our sins are on us, and we waste away in them; how then can we live? 11Say to them, As I live, says the Lord Yehovah, I have no pleasure 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? 12And you, son of man, say to the children of your people, The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him on the day of his transgression; and as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall by it on the day that he turns from his wickedness; nor shall he who is righteous be able to live by it on the day that he sins. 13When I say to the righteous, that he shall surely live; if he trusts in his righteousness, and commits iniquity, none of his righteous deeds shall be remembered; but in his iniquity that he has committed, in it he shall die. 14Again, when I say to the wicked, You shall surely die; if he turns from his sin, and does what is lawful and right; 15if the wicked restores the pledge, gives back what he had taken by robbery, walks in the statutes of life, committing no iniquity; he shall surely live, he shall not die. 16None of his sins that he has committed shall be remembered against him: he has done what is lawful and right; he shall surely live. 17Yet the children of your people say, The way of the Lord is not just: but as for them, their way is not just. 18When the righteous turns from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, he shall even die in it. 19And when the wicked turns from his wickedness, and does what is lawful and right, he shall live by it. 20Yet you say, The way of the Lord is not just. O house of Israel, I will judge each one of you according to his ways. 21And it happened in the twelfth year of our captivity, in the tenth month, on the fifth day of the month, that one who had escaped out of Jerusalem came to me, saying, The city has been struck down. 22Now the hand of Yehovah had been on me in the evening, before he who had escaped came; and he had opened my mouth, until he came to me in the morning; and my mouth was opened, and I was no longer mute. 23And the word of Yehovah came to me, saying, 24Son of man, those who inhabit those waste places in the land of Israel speak, saying, Abraham was one, and he inherited the land: but we are many; the land is given to us for an inheritance. 25Therefore say to them, Thus says the Lord Yehovah: You eat with the blood, and lift up your eyes to your idols, and shed blood: and shall you possess the land? 26You stand on your sword, you commit abomination, and you defile each one his neighbor’s wife: and shall you possess the land? 27Thus you shall say to them, Thus says the Lord Yehovah: As I live, surely those who are in the waste places shall fall by the sword; and him who is in the open field I will give to the beasts to be devoured; and those who are in the strongholds and in the caves shall die of the pestilence. 28And I will make the land a desolation and an astonishment; and the pride of her power shall cease; and the mountains of Israel shall be desolate, so that none shall pass through. 29Then they shall know that I am Yehovah, when I have made the land a desolation and an astonishment, because of all their abominations which they have committed. 30And as for you, son of man, the children of your people talk of you by the walls and in the doors of the houses, and speak one to another, each one to his brother, saying, Come, please, and hear what the word is that comes forth from Yehovah. 31And they come to you as the people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear your words, but do not do them; for with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goes after their gain. 32And, look, you are to them like a very lovely song of one who has a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument; for they hear your words, but they do not do them. 33And when this happens (behold, it comes), then they shall know that a prophet has been among them.