| [an error occurred while processing this directive] | Holman Christian Standard Bible |
| 1[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 1The word of the LORD came to me: " |
| 2[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 2Son of man, speak to your people and tell them: Suppose I bring the sword against a land, and the people of that land select a man from among them, appointing him as their watchman, |
| 3[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 3and he sees the sword coming against the land and blows his trumpet to warn the people. |
| 4[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 4Then, if anyone hears the sound of the trumpet but ignores the warning, and the sword comes and takes him away, his blood will be on his own head. |
| 5[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 5Since he heard the sound of the trumpet but ignored the warning, his blood is on his own hands. If he had taken warning, he would have saved his life. |
| 6[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 6However, if the watchman sees the sword coming but doesn't blow the trumpet, so that the people aren't warned, and the sword comes and takes away their lives, then they have been taken away because of their iniquity, but I will hold the watchman accountable for their blood." |
| 7[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 7As for you, son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. When you hear a word from My mouth, give them a warning from Me. |
| 8[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 8If I say to the wicked, 'Wicked one, you will surely die,' but you do not speak out to warn him about his way, that wicked person will die for his iniquity, yet I will hold you responsible for his blood. |
| 9[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 9But if you warn a wicked person to turn from his way and he doesn't turn from it, he will die for his iniquity, but you will have saved your life." |
| 10[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 10Now as for you, son of man, say to the house of Israel: You have said this, 'Our transgressions and our sins are heavy on us, and we are wasting away because of them! How then can we survive?' |
| 11[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 11Tell them: As I live"--the declaration of the Lord GOD--"I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked person should turn from his way and live. Repent, repent of your evil ways! Why will you die, house of Israel?" |
| 12[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 12Now, son of man, say to your people: The righteousness of the righteous person will not save him on the day of his transgression; neither will the wickedness of the wicked person cause him to stumble on the day he turns from his wickedness. The righteous person won't be able to survive by his righteousness on the day he sins. |
| 13[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 13When I tell the righteous person that he will surely live, but he trusts in his righteousness and commits iniquity, then none of his righteousness will be remembered, and he will die because of the iniquity he has committed." |
| 14[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 14So when I tell the wicked person, 'You will surely die,' but he repents of his sin and does what is just and right-- |
| 15[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 15he returns collateral, makes restitution for what he has stolen, and walks in the statutes of life without practicing iniquity--he will certainly live; he will not die. |
| 16[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 16None of the sins he committed will be held against him. He has done what is just and right; he will certainly live." |
| 17[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 17But your people say, 'The Lord's way isn't fair,' even though it is their own way that isn't fair. |
| 18[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 18When a righteous person turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, he will die on account of this. |
| 19[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 19But if a wicked person turns from his wickedness and does what is just and right, he will live because of this. |
| 20[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 20Yet you say, 'The Lord's way isn't fair.' I will judge each of you according to his ways, house of Israel." |
| 21[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 21In the twelfth year of our exile, in the tenth month, on the fifth day of the month, a fugitive from Jerusalem came to me and reported, "The city has been taken!" |
| 22[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 22Now the hand of the LORD had been on me the evening before the fugitive arrived, and He opened my mouth before the man came to me in the morning. So my mouth was opened and I was no longer mute. |
| 23[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 23Then the word of the LORD came to me: " |
| 24[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 24Son of man, those who live in the ruins in the land of Israel are saying, 'Abraham was only one person, yet he received possession of the land. But we are many; the land has been given to us as a possession.' |
| 25[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 25Therefore say to them: This is what the Lord GOD says: You eat meat with blood in it, raise your eyes to your idols, and shed blood. Should you then receive possession of the land? |
| 26[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 26You have relied on your swords, you have committed detestable acts, and each of you has defiled his neighbor's wife. Should you then receive possession of the land?" |
| 27[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 27Tell them this: This is what the Lord GOD says: As surely as I live, those who are in the ruins will fall by the sword, those in the open field I have given to wild animals to be devoured, and those in the strongholds and caves will die by plague. |
| 28[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 28I will make the land a desolate waste, and its proud strength will come to an end. The mountains of Israel will become desolate, with no one passing through. |
| 29[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 29They will know that I am Yahweh when I make the land a desolate waste because of all the detestable acts they have committed." |
| 30[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 30Now, son of man, your people are talking about you near the city walls and in the doorways of their houses. One person speaks to another, each saying to his brother, 'Come and hear what the message is that comes from the LORD!' |
| 31[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 31So My people come to you in crowds, sit in front of you, and hear your words, but they don't obey them. Although they express love with their mouths, their hearts pursue dishonest profit. |
| 32[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 32Yes, to them you are like a singer of love songs who has a beautiful voice and plays skillfully on an instrument. They hear your words, but they don't obey them. |
| 33[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 33Yet when it comes--and it will definitely come--then they will know that a prophet has been among them." |
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