¹ The word of Yahweh came to me, saying,

² Son of man, speak to the children of your people, and tell them, When I bring the sword on a land, and the people of the land take a man from among them, and set him for their watchman;

³ if, when he sees the sword come on the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people;

⁴ then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet, and doesn't take warning, if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be on his own head.

⁵ He heard the sound of the trumpet, and didn't take warning; his blood shall be on him; whereas if he had taken warning, he would have delivered his soul.

⁶ But if the watchman sees the sword come, and doesn't blow the trumpet, and the people aren't warned, and the sword comes, and take any person from among them; he is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at the watchman's hand.

⁷ So you, son of man, I have set you a watchman to the house of Israel; therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me.

⁸ When I tell the wicked, O wicked man, you shall surely die, and you don't speak to warn the wicked from his way; that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at your hand.

⁹ Nevertheless, if you warn the wicked of his way to turn from it, and he doesn't turn from his way; he shall die in his iniquity, but you have delivered your soul.

¹⁰ You, son of man, tell the house of Israel: Thus you speak, saying, Our transgressions and our sins are on us, and we pine away in them; how then can we live?

¹¹ Tell them, As I live, says the Lord Yahweh, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn, turn from your evil ways; for why will you die, house of Israel?

¹² You, son of man, tell the children of your people, The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him in the day of his disobedience; and as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall thereby in the day that he turns from his wickedness; neither shall he who is righteous be able to live thereby in the day that he sins.

¹³ When I tell the righteous, that he shall surely live; if he trust to his righteousness, and commit iniquity, none of his righteous deeds shall be remembered; but in his iniquity that he has committed, therein shall he die.

¹⁴ Again, when I say to the wicked, You shall surely die; if he turn from his sin, and do that which is lawful and right;

¹⁵ if the wicked restore the pledge, give again that which he had taken by robbery, walk in the statutes of life, committing no iniquity; he shall surely live, he shall not die.

¹⁶ None of his sins that he has committed shall be remembered against him: he has done that which is lawful and right; he shall surely live.

¹⁷ Yet the children of your people say, The way of the Lord is not equal: but as for them, their way is not equal.

¹⁸ When the righteous turns from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, he shall even die therein.

¹⁹ When the wicked turns from his wickedness, and does that which is lawful and right, he shall live thereby.

²⁰ Yet you say, The way of the Lord is not equal. House of Israel, I will judge every one of you after his ways.

²¹ It happened in the twelfth year of our captivity, in the tenth [month], in the fifth [day] of the month, that one who had escaped out of Jerusalem came to me, saying, The city has been struck.

²² Now the hand of Yahweh had been on me in the evening, before he who was escaped came; and he had opened my mouth, until he came to me in the morning; and my mouth was opened, and I was no more mute.

²³ The word of Yahweh came to me, saying,

²⁴ Son of man, they who inhabit those waste places in the land of Israel speak, saying, Abraham was one, and he inherited the land: but we are many; the land is given us for inheritance.

²⁵ Therefore tell them, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: You eat with the blood, and lift up your eyes to your idols, and shed blood: and shall you possess the land?

²⁶ You stand on your sword, you work abomination, and every one of you defiles his neighbor's wife: and shall you possess the land?

²⁷ You shall tell them, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: As I live, surely those who are in the waste places shall fall by the sword; and him who is in the open field will I give to the animals to be devoured; and those who are in the strongholds and in the caves shall die of the pestilence.

²⁸ I will make the land a desolation and an astonishment; and the pride of her power shall cease; and the mountains of Israel shall be desolate, so that none shall pass through.

²⁹ Then shall they know that I am Yahweh, when I have made the land a desolation and an astonishment, because of all their abominations which they have committed.

³⁰ As for you, son of man, the children of your people talk of you by the walls and in the doors of the houses, and speak one to another, everyone to his brother, saying, Please come and hear what is the word that comes forth from Yahweh.

³¹ They come to you as the people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear your words, but don't do them; for with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goes after their gain.

³² Behold, you are to them as a very lovely song of one who has a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument; for they hear your words, but they don't do them.

³³ When this comes to pass, (behold, it comes), then shall they know that a prophet has been among them.

¹ Moreover the Spirit lifted me up, and brought me to the east gate of Yahweh's house, which looks eastward: and see, at the door of the gate twenty-five men; and I saw in the midst of them Jaazaniah the son of Azzur, and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, princes of the people.

² He said to me, Son of man, these are the men who devise iniquity, and who give wicked counsel in this city;

³ who say, [The time] is not near to build houses: this [city] is the caldron, and we are the flesh.

⁴ Therefore prophesy against them, prophesy, son of man.

⁵ The Spirit of Yahweh fell on me, and he said to me, Speak, Thus says Yahweh: Thus you have said, house of Israel; for I know the things that come into your mind.

⁶ You have multiplied your slain in this city, and you have filled its streets with the slain.

⁷ Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: Your slain whom you have laid in its midst, they are the flesh, and this [city] is the caldron; but you shall be brought forth out of its midst.

⁸ You have feared the sword; and I will bring the sword on you, says the Lord Yahweh.

⁹ I will bring you forth out of its midst, and deliver you into the hands of strangers, and will execute judgments among you.

¹⁰ You shall fall by the sword; I will judge you in the border of Israel; and you shall know that I am Yahweh.

¹¹ This [city] shall not be your caldron, neither shall you be the flesh in its midst; I will judge you in the border of Israel;

¹² and you shall know that I am Yahweh: for you have not walked in my statutes, neither have you executed my ordinances, but have done after the ordinances of the nations that are around you.

¹³ It happened, when I prophesied, that Pelatiah the son of Benaiah died. Then fell I down on my face, and cried with a loud voice, and said, Ah Lord Yahweh! will you make a full end of the remnant of Israel?

¹⁴ The word of Yahweh came to me, saying,

¹⁵ Son of man, your brothers, even your brothers, the men of your relatives, and all the house of Israel, all of them, [are they] to whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, Go far away from Yahweh. This land has been given to us for a possession.

¹⁶ Therefore say, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Whereas I have removed them far off among the nations, and whereas I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them a sanctuary for a little while in the countries where they are come.

¹⁷ Therefore say, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: I will gather you from the peoples, and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.

¹⁸ They shall come there, and they shall take away all the detestable things of it and all its abominations from there.

¹⁹ I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh;

²⁰ that they may walk in my statutes, and keep my ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.

²¹ But as for them whose heart walks after the heart of their detestable things and their abominations, I will bring their way on their own heads, says the Lord Yahweh.

²² Then did the cherubim lift up their wings, and the wheels were beside them; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above.

²³ The glory of Yahweh went up from the midst of the city, and stood on the mountain which is on the east side of the city.

²⁴ The Spirit lifted me up, and brought me in the vision by the Spirit of God into Chaldea, to them of the captivity. So the vision that I had seen went up from me.

²⁵ Then I spoke to them of the captivity all the things that Yahweh had shown me.