Ezekiel Appointed as a Watchman and His Responsibility
1 And the word of Yahweh {came} to me, {saying},
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"Son of man, speak to {your people}, 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,
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and he sees the sword coming against the land, and he blows on the horn and he warns the people,
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and {anyone who listens} hears the sound of the horn and {he does not take warning} and [the] sword comes and it takes him, his blood will be on his [own] head.
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[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.
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And [as for] the watchman, if he sees the sword coming and {he does not blow} the horn, and the people [are] not warned, and [the] sword comes and it takes {their lives}, he will be taken through his guilt, but his blood from the hand of the watchman I will seek.'
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"And you, son of man, 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.
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{When I say} to the wicked, 'Wicked [one], you will certainly die,' and you {did not speak} to warn [the] wicked from his way, he, [the] wicked, will die by his guilt, but his blood I will seek from your hand.
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But, you, if you warn [the] wicked from his way, to turn from it, and {he does not turn} from his way, he will die by his guilt, and you will have saved your life.
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"And you, son of man, say to the house of Israel, {saying}, 'So you said, {saying}, "Indeed, our transgressions and our sins [are] on us, and because of them we [are] rotting, and how can we live?" '
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Say to them, '{As I live},' {declares} the Lord Yahweh, '{Surely I have no delight} in the death of the wicked, {except} 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?'
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"So you, son of man, say to {your people} [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} 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.
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When I say to the righteous, 'Certainly he will live,' and he trusted in his righteousness, and he [turns and he] does injustice, all of his righteousness will not be remembered, and because of his injustice that he did, because of it he will die.
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And when I say to the wicked, 'Certainly you will die,' but he returns from his sin and he does justice and righteousness--
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[for example], [the] wicked returns a pledge for a loan, he restores {stolen property}, he goes in the statutes of life [so as] not to do injustice--certainly he will live; he will not die.
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All of his {sins that he committed}, they will not be remembered against him, and he did justice and righteousness; certainly he will live.
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"Yet {your people} say, 'The way of the Lord is not fair!' [yet] their way is not fair.
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When [the] righteous turns from his righteousness and does injustice, then he will die {because of it}.
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And when the wicked turns from his wickedness, and he does justice and righteousness, because of it {he will certainly live}!
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Yet you said, 'The way of the Lord is not fair!' I will judge you, house of Israel, each [person] according to his ways."