⁹ But you are ^(A)a chosen people, a royal ^(B)priesthood, a ^(C)holy nation, ^(D)a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you ^(E)out of darkness into His marvelous light; ^10 (F)for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

^11 (G)Beloved, ^(H)I urge you as ^(I)foreigners and strangers to abstain from ^(J)fleshly lusts, which wage ^(K)war against the soul. ^12 (L)Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they ^(M)slander you as evildoers, they may ^[a]because of your good deeds, as they observe them, ^(N)glorify God ^(O)on the day of ^[b]visitation.

¹⁶ Now ^(A)at the end of seven days the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ¹⁷ “Son of man, I have appointed you as a ^(B)watchman for the house of Israel; whenever you hear a word from My mouth, ^(C)warn them from Me. ¹⁸ When I say to the wicked, ‘You will certainly die,’ and you do not warn him or speak out to warn the wicked from his wicked way so that he may live, that wicked person shall die for wrongdoing, but his ^(D)blood I will require from your hand. ¹⁹ However if you have ^(E)warned the wicked and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his wicked way, he shall die for wrongdoing, but you have ^(F)saved yourself. ²⁰ Again, ^(G)when a righteous person turns away from his righteousness and commits sin, and I place an ^(H)obstacle before him, he will die; since you have not warned him, he shall die in his sin, and his righteous deeds which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood I will require from your hand. ²¹ However, if you have ^(I)warned ^[a]the righteous person that the righteous is not to sin, and he does not sin, he shall certainly live because he took warning; and you have saved yourself.”