1Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
2Son of man, speak to the children of your people, and say to them, When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take one of their borders, and set him as their watchman:
3If when he sees the sword coming upon 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 upon his own head.
5He heard the sound of the trumpet, and did not take warning; his blood shall be upon him. But he who takes warning shall save his soul.
6But if the watchman sees the sword coming, and does not blow the trumpet, and the people are not warned; if 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, O son of man, I have set you a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore you shall hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me.
8When I say to the wicked, O wicked man, you shall surely die; if 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; if he does not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul.
10Therefore, O son of man, speak to the house of Israel; this is what you speak, saying, If our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we waste away in them, how should we then live?
11Say to them, As I live, says the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn back, turn back from your evil ways; for why will you die, O house of Israel?
12Therefore, son of man, say to the children of your people, The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression: as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall thereby in the day that he turns from his wickedness; neither shall the righteous be able to live for his righteousness in the day that he sins.
13When I shall say to the righteous, that he shall surely live; if he trusts in his own righteousness, and commits iniquity, all his righteousnesses shall not be remembered; but for his iniquity that he has committed, he shall die for it.
14Again, when I say to the wicked, You shall surely die; if he turns from his sin, and does that which is lawful and right;
15If the wicked restores the pledge, gives back what he has stolen, walks in the statutes of life, without committing iniquity; he shall surely live, he shall not die.