² “Son of man, speak to your people and say to them: ‘When I bring the sword^(A) against a land, and the people of the land choose one of their men and make him their watchman,^(B)

³⁰ “As for you, son of man, your people are talking together about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses, saying to each other, ‘Come and hear the message that has come from the Lord.’

¹⁷ “Yet your people say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ But it is their way that is not just.

¹⁷ “Or if I bring a sword^(A) against that country and say, ‘Let the sword pass throughout the land,’ and I kill its people and their animals,^(B)

¹¹ Go^(A) now to your people in exile and speak to them. Say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says,’^(B) whether they listen or fail to listen.^(C)”

The Shepherd Struck, the Sheep Scattered

²⁷ But when I speak to you, I will open your mouth and you shall say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says.’^(A) Whoever will listen let them listen, and whoever will refuse let them refuse; for they are a rebellious people.^(B)

² And if they ask you, ‘Where shall we go?’ tell them, ‘This is what the Lord says:

³ “I will send four kinds of destroyers^(D) against them,” declares the Lord, “the sword^(E) to kill and the dogs^(F) to drag away and the birds^(G) and the wild animals to devour and destroy.^(H)