Read the Modern Pastor’s Version

The word of the Lord came to me, saying, "Son of man, speak to the children of your people and say to them: 'When I bring a sword upon a land and its people appoint a watchman from among themselves, if he sees the sword coming and sounds the trumpet to warn the people, then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet but takes no warning will be held responsible for their own death. He heard the sound of the trumpet, but took no warning; his blood shall be upon him. But he who takes warning will deliver his soul.'

"If the watchman sees the sword coming and fails to sound the alarm, my people will die in their sin, and I will demand their blood at his hand. If you warn the wicked to turn from his way, but he does not turn, he will die in his sin; yet you have delivered your own soul.

"You, O son of man, have been set by me as a watchman to the house of Israel; therefore you shall hear my word and warn them from me. When I say to the wicked, 'You will surely die,' if you do not warn them to turn from their wicked way, that wicked person will die in their sin.

"But, O son of man, speak to the house of Israel: If our transgressions and sins are upon us, and we wither away in them, how shall we then live? As I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that they turn from their evil ways and live.

"Turn you, turn you from your evil ways; for why will you die, O house of Israel? Therefore, you son of man, tell the children of your people that the righteousness of the righteous will not save him on the day he sins, and the wickedness of the wicked will not condemn him on the day he turns from his wicked ways.

"When I say to the righteous that he will surely live, if he trusts in his own righteousness and commits iniquity, none of his righteous deeds will be remembered; but because of the iniquity he has committed, he shall die for it. When I say to the wicked, 'You will surely die,' if he turns from his sin and does what is lawful and right, he will live.

"If the wicked restore what they had taken by robbery, give back what they had stolen, live in accordance with God's laws without committing any wrongdoing, he will surely live and not die. None of his sins that he has committed will be remembered against him, since he has done what is lawful and right; he shall surely live.

"But the children of your people say, 'The way of the Lord is not fair,' yet they themselves are not fair in their own ways. When the righteous person turns away from their righteousness and commits iniquity, they will die because of it. But if the wicked turn from his wickedness and do what is lawful and right, he will live by it.

"Yet you say, 'The way of the Lord is not just.' I will judge each of you according to your own ways. In the twelfth year of our captivity, on the tenth day of the tenth month, one who had escaped from Jerusalem came to me and said, 'The city has been conquered.'

"The hand of the Lord was upon me in the evening, before he who had escaped came to me; and it had opened my mouth until he arrived in the morning. The word of the Lord came to me, saying: Then the people stand on their swords, committing abomination and defiling each other's wives; shall they possess the land?

"The Lord GOD says, 'You eat with the blood and lift your eyes to your idols while shedding blood; can you still possess the land? You stand on your sword, work abomination, and defile every one of your neighbor's wives, yet shall you possess the land?

"As I live, surely those who are in the waste places will fall by the sword, and whoever is in the open field I will give to the animals to be devoured, and those who are in the strongholds and in the caves will die of the pestilence. I will lay the land most desolate, and the pride of her strength shall cease; and the mountains of Israel shall be desolate.

"Then they will know that I am the Lord when I have made the land utterly desolate because of all their detestable practices. The people of your community are still speaking against you in hushed tones, whispering to one another at the city gates and in the doorways of their homes, saying, 'Come, let us hear what the Lord has to say.

"They come to you as people do, sitting before you as my people, hearing your words but not putting them into practice; with their lips they express great devotion, but their hearts are set on gain. You are to them like a beautiful song sung by someone with a pleasant voice and skilled on an instrument, for they hear your words but do not put them into practice.

"When this comes to pass, then they will know that a prophet has been among them."