¹⁶ At the end of the seven days, this message from the Lord came to me: ¹⁷ “Son of Man,” he said,^[a] “I’ve appointed you to be a watchman^[b] over the house of Israel. Therefore when you hear a message that comes from me, you are to warn them for me.

¹⁸ “So when I say to a wicked person, ‘You’re about to die,’ if you don’t warn or instruct that wicked person that his behavior^[c] is wicked so he can live, that wicked person will die in his sin, but I’ll hold you responsible for his death.^{[d] 19} If you warn the wicked person, and he doesn’t repent of his wickedness or of his wicked behavior,^[e] he’ll die in his sin, but you will have saved your own life.

²⁰ “When a righteous man abandons his righteousness to practice unrighteousness, I’ll set a stumbling block before him. He’ll die. If you don’t warn him, he’ll die in his sin and the righteous deeds that he had practiced won’t be remembered, but you’ll be held responsible for his death.^{[f] 21} If you warn the righteous person, so that he^[g] doesn’t commit sin, then he’ll live, since he had been warned. And you will have saved your life.”