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?'
12. "Son of man, speak to the people of your own country. Tell them, 'The right things a godly person does will not save him when he does not obey the Lord. The wrong things a sinful person does will not destroy him when he turns away from them. If a godly person sins, he will not be allowed to live just because he used to do what is right.'
13. "Suppose I tell someone who is godly that he will live. And he trusts in the fact that he used to do what was right. But now he does what is evil. Then I will not remember any of the right things he has done. He will die because he has done so many evil things.
14. "Suppose I say to a sinful person, 'You can be sure you will die.' And then he turns away from his sin. He does what is fair and right.
15. He gives back what he took as security for a loan. He returns what he has stolen. He follows my rules that give life. He does not do what is evil. Then you can be sure he will live. He will not die.
16. None of the sins he has committed will be held against him. He has done what is fair and right. So you can be sure he will live.
17. "In spite of that, your people say, 'What the Lord does isn't fair.' But it is what you do that is not fair.
18. "Suppose someone who is godly stops doing what is right. And he does what is evil. Then he will die because of it.