Douay-Rheims Catholic Bible RHE
GOD'S WORD Translation GW
1 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
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The LORD spoke his word to me. He said,
2 Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say to them: When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man, one of their meanest, and make him a watchman over them:
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"Son of man, speak to your people. Tell them, 'Suppose I bring war on this country, and the people of this country choose one of their men and make him their watchman.
3 And he sees the sword coming upon the land, and sound the trumpet, and tell the people:
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If he sees the enemy coming to attack the country, he will blow his horn to warn the people.
4 Then he that heareth the sound of the trumpet, whosoever he be, and doth not look to himself, if the sword come, and cut him off: his blood shall be upon his own head.
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If the people hear the horn and ignore the warning and the enemy comes and takes them, they will be responsible for their own deaths.
5 He heard the sound of the trumpet, and did not look to himself, his blood shall be upon him: but if he look to himself, he shall save his life.
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They heard the sound of the horn but ignored its warning. So they are responsible for their own deaths. If they had taken the warning, they would have saved themselves.
6 And if the watchman see the sword coming, and sound not the trumpet: and the people look not to themselves, and the sword come, and cut off a soul from among them: he indeed is taken away in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at the hand of the watchman.
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"'But if the watchman sees the enemy coming and doesn't blow his horn to warn the people and the enemy comes and kills someone, that watchman must die because of his sin. I will hold him responsible for their deaths.'
7 So thou, O son of man, I have made thee a watchman to the house of Israel: therefore thou shalt hear the word from my mouth, and shalt tell it them from me.
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"Son of man, I have appointed you as a watchman for the people of Israel. Listen to what I say, and warn them for me.
8 When I say to the wicked: O wicked man, thou shalt surely die: if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked man from his way: that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at thy hand.
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Suppose I say to a wicked person, 'You wicked person, you will certainly die,' and you say nothing to warn him to change his ways. That wicked person will die because of his sin, and I will hold you responsible for his death.
9 But if thou tell the wicked man, that he may be converted from his ways, and he be not converted from his way he shall die in his iniquity: but thou hast delivered thy soul.
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But if you warn a wicked person to turn from his ways and he doesn't turn from them, then he will die because of his sin. However, you will save yourself.
10 Thou therefore, O son of man, say to the house of Israel: Thus you have spoken, saying: Our iniquities, and our sins are upon us, and we pine away in them: how then can we live?
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"Son of man, say to the people of Israel, 'You have said this, "Our wickedness and our sins weigh us down, and we are rotting away because of them. How can we live?"'
11 Say to them: As I live, saith the Lord God, I desire not the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way, and live. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways: and why will you die, O house of Israel?
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"Tell them, 'As I live, declares the Almighty LORD, I don't want wicked people to die. Rather, I want them to turn from their ways and live. Change the way you think and act! Turn from your wicked ways! Do you want to die, people of Israel?'
12 Thou therefore, O son of man, say to the children of thy people: The justice of the just shall not deliver him, in what day soever he shall sin: and the wickedness of the wicked shall not hurt him, in what day soever he shall turn from his wickedness: and the just shall not be able to live in his justice, in what day soever he shall sin.
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"Son of man, say to your people, 'The right things that a righteous person has done will not save him when he rebels. The wicked things that a wicked person has done will not make him stumble when he turns from his wickedness. The righteous person will not live when he sins.'
13 Yea, if I shall say to the just that he shall surely live, and he, trusting in his justice, commit iniquity: all his justices shall be forgotten, and his iniquity, which he hath committed, in the same shall he die.
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I may promise the righteous person that he will certainly live. But if he trusts in the right things that he has done and he does evil, none of the right things that he has done will be remembered. He will die because of the evil things he has done.
14 And it I shall say to the wicked: Thou shalt surely die: and he do penance for his sin, and do judgment and justice,
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I may warn the wicked person that he will certainly die. But suppose he turns from his sin and does what is fair and right.
15 And if that wicked man restore the pledge, and render what he had robbed, and walk in the commandments of life, and do no unjust thing: he shall surely live, and shall not die.
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He returns the security for a loan, pays back everything he stole, lives by the rules of life, and does nothing evil. Then he will certainly live. He will not die.
16 None of his sins, which he hath committed, shall be imputed to him: he hath done judgment and justice, he shall surely live.
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None of the sins that he has done will be remembered. He has done what is fair and right. He will certainly live.
17 And the children of thy people have said: The way of the Lord is not equitable: whereas their own way is unjust.
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"But your people say, 'The Lord's way is unfair.' Yet, their ways are unfair.
18 For when the just shall depart from his justice, and commit iniquities, he shall die in them.
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If the righteous person turns from the right things that he has done and does evil, he will die because of it.
19 And when the wicked shall depart from his wickedness, and shall do judgments, and justice, he shall live in them.
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If the wicked person turns from his wickedness and does what is fair and right, he will live because of it.
20 And you say: The way of the Lord is not right, I will judge every one of you according to his ways, O house of Israel.
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Yet, the people of Israel say, 'The Lord's way is unfair.' I will judge each of you by your own ways, people of Israel."
21 And it came to pass in the twelfth year of our captivity, in the tenth month, in the fifth day of the month, that there came to me one that was fled from Jerusalem, saying: The city is laid waste.
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On the fifth day of the tenth month in the twelfth year of our captivity, a refugee from Jerusalem came to me. He said, "The city has been captured."
22 And the hand of the Lord had been upon me in the evening, before he that was fled came: and he opened my mouth till he came to me in the morning, and my mouth being opened, I was silent no more.
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The evening before the refugee arrived, the power of the LORD came over me. On the morning the refugee arrived, the LORD made me speak. So I spoke, and I was no longer quiet.
23 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
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The LORD spoke his word to me. He said,
24 Son of man, they that dwell in these ruinous 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 in possession.
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"Son of man, those who live in the ruined cities in Israel are saying, 'Abraham was only one person, and he was given the land. But we are many. Certainly the land has been given to us.'
25 Therefore say to them: Thus saith the Lord God: You that eat with the blood and lift up your eyes to your uncleannesses, and that shed blood: shall you possess the land by inheritance?
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So tell them, 'This is what the Almighty LORD says: You eat meat with blood in it. You look to your idols for help. You murder people. Should the land be given to you?
26 You stood on your swords, you have committed abominations, and every one hath defiled his neighbours wife; and shall you possess the land by inheritance?
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You rely on your swords. You do disgusting things. You dishonor your neighbor's wife. Should the land be given to you?'
27 Say thou thus to them: Thus saith the Lord God: As I live, they that dwell in the ruinous places, shall fall by the sword: and he that is in the field, shall be given to the beasts to be devoured: and they that are in holds, and caves, shall die of the pestilence.
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"Tell them, 'This is what the Almighty LORD says: As I live, whoever is in the ruined cities will be killed in battle. Whoever is in the open field will become food for wild animals. Whoever is in fortified places and caves will die from plagues.
28 And I will make the land a wilderness, and a desert, and the proud strength thereof shall fail, and the mountains of Israel shall be desolate, because there is none to pass by them,
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I will turn the land into a barren wasteland. People will no longer brag about its power. The mountains of Israel will become so ruined that no one will travel through them.
29 And they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall have made their land waste and desolate, for all their abominations which they have committed.
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Then people will know that I am the LORD, when I make the land a barren wasteland because of all the disgusting things that they have done.'
30 And thou son of man: the children of thy people, that talk of thee by the walls, and in the doors of the houses, and speak one to another each man to his neighbour, saying: Come, and let us hear what is the word that cometh forth from the Lord.
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"Son of man, your people are talking about you by the walls and in the doorways of their homes. They are saying to each other, 'Let's go and hear the word that has come from the LORD.'
31 And they come to thee, as if people were coming in, and my people sit before thee: and hear thy words, and do them not: for they turn them into a song of their mouth, and their heart goeth after their covetousness.
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Then they come to you, as if they are still my people, and they sit down in front of you. They listen to what you say, but they don't do it. They say that they love me, but in their hearts they chase dishonest profits.
32 And thou art to them as a musical song which is sung with a sweet and agreeable voice: and they hear thy words, and do them not.
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To them you are nothing more than a singer with a beautiful voice who sings love songs or a musician who plays an instrument. They listen to your words, but they don't do them.
33 And when that which was foretold shall come to pass, for behold it is coming, then shall they know that a prophet hath been among them.
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When all your words come true--and they certainly will come true--these people will know that a prophet has been among them."