1. A message came to me from the Lord. He said,
2. "Son of man, speak to the people of your own country. Tell them, 'Suppose I send enemies against a land. And its people choose one of their men to stand guard.
3. He sees the enemies coming against the land. He blows a trumpet to warn the people.
4. " 'Someone hears the trumpet. But he does not pay any attention to the warning. The enemies come and kill him. Then what happens to him will be his own fault.
5. He heard the sound of the trumpet. But he did not pay any attention to the warning. So what happened to him was his own fault. If he had paid attention, he would have saved himself.
6. " 'But suppose the guard sees the enemies coming. And he does not blow the trumpet to warn the people. The enemies come and kill one of them. Then his life has been taken away from him because he sinned. But I will hold the guard accountable for his death.'
7. "Son of man, I have appointed you as a prophet to warn the people of Israel. So listen to my message. Give them a warning from me.
8. "Suppose I say to a sinful person, 'You can be sure that you will die.' And suppose you do not try to get him to change his ways. Then he will die because he has sinned. And I will hold you accountable for his death.
9. "But suppose you do warn that sinful person. You tell him to change his ways. But he does not do it. Then he will die because he has sinned. But you will have saved yourself.
10. "Son of man, speak to the people of Israel. Tell them, 'You are saying, "Our sins and the wrong things we have done weigh us down. We are wasting away because we have sinned so much. So how can we live?" '
11. "Tell them, 'When sinful people die, it does not give me any joy. But when they turn away from their sins and live, that makes me very happy. And that is just as sure as I am alive,' announces the Lord and King. 'So turn away from your sins! Change your evil ways! Why should you die, people of Israel?'