7. So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth and warn them from me.
8. When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die for his sin; but I will require his blood at thine hand.
9. Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it, if he does not turn from his way, he shall die for his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.
10. Therefore, O thou son of man, speak unto the house of Israel: Ye speak thus, saying, Our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we are consumed because of them. How should we then live?
11. Say unto them, As I live, said the Lord GOD, I do not desire the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his way and that he live; turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?
12. And thou, son of man, say unto the sons of thy people, The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him the day that he rebels; and the wickedness of the wicked shall not impede him in the day that he turns from his wickedness; and the righteous shall not be able to live by his righteousness in the day that he sins.
13. When I am saying to the righteous, Thou shalt shall surely live and he trusting in his own righteousness commits iniquity, all his righteousnesses shall not be remembered; but for his iniquity that he has committed, he shall die for it.
14. And, when I am saying unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; if he turns from his sin, and does judgment and righteousness
15. if the wicked restores the pledge, returns that which he had robbed, walks in the statutes of life, without committing iniquity he shall surely live; he shall not die.
16. None of his sins that he has committed shall be mentioned unto him. Has he lived according to judgment and righteousness? He shall surely live.
17. Then the sons of thy people shall say, The way of the Lord is not straight: but their way is the one that is not straight.
18. When the righteous turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, he shall die thereby.
19. And when the wicked turns from his wickedness and does judgment and righteousness, he shall live thereby.
20. Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not straight. O ye house of Israel, I will judge you each one after his ways.
21. And it came to pass in the twelfth year of our captivity, in the tenth month, in the fifth day of the month, that one that had escaped out of Jerusalem came unto me, saying, The city is smitten.
22. Now the hand of the Lord was upon me in the evening before he that was escaped came, and had opened my mouth, until he came to me in the morning; and he opened my mouth, and I was never dumb again.
23. And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
24. Son of man, those that inhabit these wastes in the land of Israel speak, saying, Abraham was one, and he possessed the land; but we are many; the land is given us for a possession.
25. Therefore say unto them, Thus hath the Lord GOD said; Ye eat with the blood and lift up your eyes toward your idols and shed blood, and shall ye possess this land?
26. Ye stand upon your sword, ye work abomination, and ye defile each one his neighbour’s wife, and shall ye possess the land?
27. Thou shalt speak unto them like this, Thus hath the Lord GOD said; As I live, surely those that are in those wastes shall fall by the sword, and he that is in the open field I will give to the beasts to be devoured, and those that are in the forts and in the caves shall die of the pestilence.