² “Son of man,^[a] speak to your people,^[b] and you must say to them, ‘A land, if I bring over it a sword and the people of the land take a man, one from their number, and they appoint him for them as a watchman, ³ and he sees the sword coming against the land, and he blows on the horn and he warns the people, ⁴ and anyone who listens^[c] hears the sound of the horn and he does not take warning^[d] and the sword comes and it takes him, his blood will be on his own head. ⁵ For he heard the sound of the horn and he did not take warning; his blood will be on him. But if he took warning, he saved his life. ⁶ And as for the watchman, if he sees the sword coming and he does not blow^[e] the horn, and the people are not warned, and the sword comes and it takes their lives,^[f] he will be taken through his guilt, but his blood from the hand of the watchman I will seek.’

⁷ “And you, son of man,^[g] I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; if you hear a word from my mouth, then you must warn them from me. ⁸ When I say^[h] to the wicked, ‘Wicked one, you will certainly die,’ and you did not speak^[i] to warn the wicked from his way, he, the wicked, will die by his guilt, but his blood I will seek from your hand. ⁹ But, you, if you warn the wicked from his way, to turn from it, and he does not turn^[j] from his way, he will die by his guilt, and you will have saved your life.

¹⁰ “And you, son of man,^[k] say to the house of Israel, saying,^[l] ‘So you said, saying,^[m] “Indeed, our transgressions and our sins are on us, and because of them we are rotting, and how can we live?”’ ¹¹ Say to them, ‘As I live,’^[n] declares^[o] the Lord Yahweh, ‘Surely I have no delight^[p] in the death of the wicked, except^[q] in the wicked returning from his way, and he lives. Turn back! Turn back from your ways, O evil ones, for why should you die, house of Israel?’

¹² “So^[r] you, son of man,^[s] say to your people^[t] that the righteousness of the righteous shall not save him in the day of his transgression, and the wickedness of the wicked will not cause him to stumble^[u] on the day of his returning from his wickedness; and the righteous will not be able to live by it on the day when he returns to his sin. ¹³ When I say to the righteous, ‘Certainly he will live,’ and he trusted in^[v] his righteousness, and he turns and he does injustice, all of his righteousness^[w] will not be remembered, and because of his injustice that he did, because of it he will die. ¹⁴ And when I say to the wicked, ‘Certainly you will die,’ but^[x] he returns from his sin and he does justice and righteousness— ¹⁵ for example, the wicked returns a pledge for a loan, he restores stolen property,^[y] he goes in the statutes of life so as not to do injustice—certainly he will live; he will not die. ¹⁶ All of his sins that he committed,^[z] they will not be remembered against^[aa] him, and he did justice and righteousness; certainly he will live.

¹⁷ “Yet^[ab] your people^[ac] say, ‘The way of the Lord is not fair!’ yet their way is not fair. ¹⁸ When the righteous turns from his righteousness and does injustice, then he will die because of it.^{[ad] 19} And when the wicked turns from his wickedness, and he does justice and righteousness, because of it^[ae] he will certainly live!^{[af] 20} Yet you said, ‘The way of the Lord is not fair!’ I will judge you, house of Israel, each person according to his ways.”