²⁶ Therefore ^(A)I testify to you this day that ^(B)I am innocent of the blood of all,

⁶ And when they opposed and reviled him, ^(A)he shook out his garments and said to them, ^(B)“Your blood be on your own heads! ^(C)I am innocent. ^(D)From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”

^2 (A)“Son of man, speak to ^(B)your people and say to them, If ^(C)I bring the sword upon a land, and the people of the land take a man from among them, and make him their ^(D)watchman, ³ and if he sees the sword coming upon the land and ^(E)blows the trumpet and warns the people, ⁴ then if anyone who hears the sound of the trumpet does not take warning, and the sword comes and takes him away, ^(F)his blood shall be upon his own head. ^5 (G)He heard the sound of the trumpet and did not take warning; his blood shall be upon himself. But if he had taken warning, he would have saved his life. ^6 (H)But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, so that the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any one of them, ^(I)that person is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at the watchman's hand.

^7 (J)“So you, ^(K)son of man, I have made a watchman for the house of Israel. ^(L)Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. ^8 (M)If I say to the wicked, O wicked one, you shall surely die, ^(N)and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from his way, ^(O)that wicked person shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. ^9 (P)But if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, ^(Q)that person shall die in his iniquity, ^(R)but you will have delivered your soul.

^18 (A)If I say to the wicked, ^(B)‘You shall surely die,’ ^(C)and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, that wicked person ^(D)shall die for^[a] his iniquity, ^(E)but his blood I will require at your hand. ^19 (F)But if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, or from his wicked way, he shall die for his iniquity, ^(G)but you ^(H)will have delivered your soul. ^20 (I)Again, if a righteous person turns from his righteousness and commits injustice, ^(J)and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die. ^(K)Because you have not warned him, he shall die for his sin, ^(L)and his righteous deeds that he has done shall not be remembered, ^(M)but his blood I will require at your hand. ²¹ But if you warn the righteous person not to sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live, because he took warning, and you will have delivered your soul.”

^17 (A)The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to bear witness.

¹⁰ You are witnesses, and ^(A)God also, ^(B)how holy and righteous and blameless was our conduct toward you believers. ¹¹ For you know how, ^(C)like a father with his children, ¹² we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and ^(D)charged ^(E)you to walk in a manner worthy of God, ^(F)who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.

³ For they gave ^(A)according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord,

Paul's Joy

^2 (A)Make room in your hearts^[a] for us. ^(B)We have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have taken advantage of no one.

²³ But ^(A)I call God to witness against me—it was ^(B)to spare you that I refrained from coming again to Corinth.