The Watchman’s Duty

33 Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ² “Son of man, speak to the ^(A)sons of your people and say to them, ‘If I bring a sword upon a land, and the people of the land take one man from among them and make him their watchman, ³ and he sees the sword coming upon the land and ^(B)blows the ^[a]horn and warns the people, ⁴ then ^[b]someone who hears the sound of the horn but ^(C)does not take warning, and a sword comes and takes him away, his ^(D)blood will be on his own head. ⁵ He heard the sound of the horn but did not take warning; his blood will be on himself. But had he taken warning, he would have ^(E)saved his life. ⁶ But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the horn and the people are not warned, and a sword comes and takes a person from them, he is ^(F)taken away for his wrongdoing; but I will ^[c]require his ^(G)blood from the watchman’s hand.’

⁷ “Now as for you, son of man, I have ^[d](H)appointed you as a watchman for the house of Israel; so you will hear a ^[e]message from My mouth and give them a ^(I)warning from Me. ⁸ When I say to the wicked, ‘You wicked person, you will ^(J)certainly die,’ and you do not speak to warn the wicked about his way, that wicked person shall die for his wrongdoing, but I will ^[f]require his blood from your hand. ⁹ But if you on your part warn a wicked person to turn from his way and he ^(K)does not turn from his way, he will die for his wrongdoing, but you have ^(L)saved your life.

¹⁰ “Now as for you, son of man, say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what you have ^[g]said: “Surely our offenses and our sins are upon us, and we are ^(M)rotting away in them; ^(N)how then can we ^[h]survive?”’