| 1. Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying: |
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א. |
| 2. "Son of man, speak to the members of your people and say to them: When I bring armed attackers upon a land, and the people of the land take one man from among themselves and appoint him for them as a lookout, |
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ב. |
| 3. And he sees the army coming upon the land, and he sounds the shofar and warns the people, |
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ג. |
| 4. And whoever hears the sound of the shofar and does not take heed, and the army comes and takes him, his blood will be upon his own head. |
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ד. |
| 5. He heard the sound of the shofar and did not take heed; his blood will be upon him, for had he taken heed, he would have saved his life. |
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ה. |
| 6. But the lookout-should he see the army coming and not sound the shofar, and the people did not take heed, and an army came and took a soul from them-he was taken for his iniquity, but I shall require his blood from the hand of the lookout. |
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ו. |
| 7. Now you, son of man, I have made you a lookout for the house of Israel, and you will hear a word from My mouth, and you shall warn them from Me. |
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ז. |
| 8. When I say of a wicked man, Wicked one, you shall surely die! and you did not speak to warn the wicked man from his way-he is wicked and for his iniquity he will die, but his blood I shall require of your hand. |
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ח. |
| 9. But you-if you warned a wicked man from his way, to repent thereof, and he did not repent of his way-he will die for his iniquity, and you have saved your soul. |
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ט. |
| 10. Now you, son of man, say to the house of Israel; So have you spoken, saying: For our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and because of them we are melting away, so how can we live? |
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י. |
| 11. Say to them: As I live, says the Lord God, I do not wish for the death of the wicked, but for the wicked to repent of his way so that he may live. Repent, repent of your evil ways, for why should you die, O house of Israel! |
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יא. |
| 12. And you, son of man, say to the members of your people: The righteousness of the righteous will not save him on the day of his transgression, and the wickedness of the wicked-he will not stumble upon it on the day of his repentance of his wickedness, and a righteous man cannot live with it on the day of his sinning. |
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יב. |
| 13. When I say of the righteous that he will surely live, and he relied on his righteousness and committed injustice, none of his righteous deeds will be remembered, and for the injustices which he committed he shall die. |
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יג. |
| 14. And when I say of the wicked man, "You shall surely die," and he repents of his sin and performs justice and righteousness, |
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יד. |
| 15. The wicked man will return the pledge, he will repay the theft; in the statutes of life he walked, not to commit injustice-he will surely live, he will not die. |
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טו. |
| 16. All his sins that he sinned will not be remembered for him: he performed justice and righteousness; he will surely live. |
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טז. |
| 17. Now, should the members of your people say, 'The Lord's way is not right,' but they-their way is not right. |
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יז. |
| 18. When a righteous man repents of his righteousness and commits injustice, he will die because of them. |
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יח. |
| 19. And when a wicked man repents of his wickedness and performs justice and righteousness, he shall live because of them. |
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יט. |
| 20. But you say, 'The Lord's way is not right.' Each one according to his ways I will judge you, O house of Israel." |
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כ. |
| 21. Now it came to pass in the twelfth year, in the tenth [month], on the fifth [day] of the month of our exile, that the fugitive from Jerusalem came to me, saying, "The city was struck." |
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כא. |
| 22. Now the hand of the Lord had been upon me in the evening before the coming of the fugitive and He opened my mouth before [his] coming to me in the morning, and my mouth was opened and I was no longer mute. |
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כב. |
| 23. Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying: |
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כג. |
| 24. "Son of man, the dwellers of these ruins on the soil of Israel speak, saying: Abraham was one, and he inherited the land, and we are many-the land has [surely] been given to us for an inheritance. |
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כד. |
| 25. Therefore, say to them: So said the Lord God, You eat on the blood and you raise your eyes to your pagan deities, and you shed blood-and you should inherit the land? |
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כה. |
| 26. You stood on your sword, you committed abominations, and you contaminated each man his neighbor's wife, and you should inherit the land? |
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כו. |
| 27. So shall you say to them: So said the Lord God, As I live, I swear that those who are in the ruins will fall by the sword, and those who are on the face of the field I have delivered to the beasts to devour them, and those who are in the strongholds and in the caves shall die from pestilence. |
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כז. |
| 28. And I shall make the land desolate and waste, and the pride of its strength will be cut off, and the mountains of Israel will be desolate without a passerby. |
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כח. |
| 29. And they will know that I am the Lord when I make the land desolate and waste because of all their abominations, which they have committed. |
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כט. |
| 30. And you, son of man, the members of your people who talk about you beside the walls and in the entrances of the houses, and one talks to the other, one to his brother, saying, "Come now and listen to what the word is that is coming forth from before the Lord." |
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ל. |
| 31. And they will come to you as a public gathering, and they will sit before you as My people, and they will hear your words but not fulfill them; instead they make them into jokes with their mouth; their heart goes after their gain. |
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לא. |
| 32. And you are to them as a song on the flute, which has a beautiful voice and plays well; they will hear your words, but will not fulfill them. |
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לב. |
| 33. And when it comes-behold it is coming, and they will know that a prophet was in their midst." |
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לג. |
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