A Watchman for Israel

^16 (A)And at the end of seven days, the word of the Lord came to me: ^17 (B)“Son of man, ^(C)I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall ^(D)give them warning from me. ^18 (E)If I say to the wicked, ^(F)‘You shall surely die,’ ^(G)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 ^(H)shall die for^[a] his iniquity, ^(I)but his blood I will require at your hand. ^19 (J)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, ^(K)but you ^(L)will have delivered your soul. ^20 (M)Again, if a righteous person turns from his righteousness and commits injustice, ^(N)and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die. ^(O)Because you have not warned him, he shall die for his sin, ^(P)and his righteous deeds that he has done shall not be remembered, ^(Q)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.”

Ezekiel Is Israel's Watchman

33 The word of the Lord came to me: ^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.

Why Will You Die, Israel?

¹⁰ “And you, ^(S)son of man, say to the house of Israel, Thus have you said: ‘Surely our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and ^(T)we rot away because of them. ^(U)How then can we live?’ ¹¹ Say to them, ^(V)As I live, declares the Lord God, ^(W)I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; ^(X)turn back, turn back from your evil ways, ^(Y)for why will you die, O house of Israel?