2*[YAH] says, “‘Son of Adam,’ talk to your bratty people. Say to them, ‘When I bring the [war] sword upon a land, the people of the land should take a man of their region, and appoint him as their [spiritual] watchman.
3When [the watchman] sees the sword coming upon the land, he [must] blow the trumpet, and warn the people.
4*Then if anyone hears the sound of the trumpet, and [fails to] take warning, when the sword comes and takes him away, his blood falls on his own head.
5[If you] hear the sound of the trumpet, and take no warning, [your] blood-guilt sticks to you. Whoever takes warning saves his soul.
6But if the watchman sees the sword coming, and fails to blow the trumpet, then the people won't be warned. If the sword comes and takes any person from among [my unalerted people, the sinner] gets taken away in his evil. Then I'll demand [restitution for] his blood from the watchman's hand.
7*So you, son of Adam, I've set you [as] a watchman to [warn] the house of Israel. So you, 😇, hear the word from my mouth. Send the [infidels] my warning. Speaking YAH's word to the Jews is a mostly-ignored Christian duty.
Save Your Own Soul: Warn People Of Damnation
8When I tell some life-wrecker, ‘Oh, wicked man, you're dead [meat],’ if you [the believer] refuse to speak to warn that ruinous man to [change] his way, that wicked man dies in his evil. So I demand [restitution for] his blood from your hand.
9*But if you warn the wicked [man] to turn from his [harmful] way, and then he fails to turn from his path [of destruction], he dies in his guilt. But you'll have rescued your soul [from responsibility].
10So, ‘son of Adam,’ tell the house of Israel, ‘[I hear you whining,] ‘Our rebellions and our errors [weigh down] on us. We waste away in [sin]. So what's the point in staying alive?’
YAH Judges You By Your Ending, Not Your Start
11Say to the [Israelis], ‘As I live,’ AdonaiYHVH says, ‘I take no pleasure in the death of wicked [beings]. I love it when a criminal turns from his [evil] way and lives. [So] turn! Spin off your catastrophic path! Why would you want to die, family of Israel?’
12So you, son of Adam, warn your childish people, ‘The [past] righteousness of a saint can't rescue him in the day he rebels [against me]. Likewise, the evil [past] of a villain won't make him fall if one day he [finally] turns from his wickedness. The good [man's history] won't net him a clean life-story if one day he starts [committing damaging] offenses.
13Sometimes I tell a saint that he's bound for [eternal] life. Then he confides in his good [track-record]. He harms [people]. So I forget all his [previous] good-deeds. He dies for the ruin he ends up wreaking.
14Conversely, sometimes I say to a lawbreaker, ‘You're bound for death.’ Then he turns from his sin, 😇. He does what's lawful and right. [So he ends up living.] Most translations rely on the wooden ‘surely die, surely live’ rendering of ‘muwth muwth’ and ‘chayah chayah.’ Such translators make YHVH sound like a confused waffler who goes back on his word. The GNT conveys the proper sense of this verse.
15When a [greedy lender] restores the pledged [property he held,] and gives back what he robbed, [and] walks in the statutes of life, avoiding unfair actions, he lives and thrives. He escapes death.
16*I never again mention to the ex-sinner any the sins he ever committed, 😇. [If] he persists in [doing] what's lawful and right, he lives, guaranteed! Good actions (empowered by heaven) lead to continued life. No animal or human blood sacrifice required.
17Yet the brats among your people whine, “YHVH's way [of judging law] is inequitable.” But the [complainers'
accusation sticks to themselves, 😇]. Their own habits [reek of] inequity. Equity jurisdiction exists because people consider YAH's laws unfair. That's why the world drowns in lawsuits. Earth lies conquered by the abominable insurance industry. The point of life is to kindly and patiently suffer for facing risk, not to pay corporations in a vain attempt to eliminate risk and suffering.
Sopherim [wise-guys] changed ‘YHVH’ to ‘Adonai’ in this verse and hundreds of others. Their error persists in most translations.
18[Likewise,] even the saint ends up perishing if he turns from his righteousness to commit unfair [acts].
19Likewise, when a destroyer turns from his violating to do what's lawful and kind, he [buys] continued life.
20Yet you Israel-spawn whine, “Adonai[YHVH's scales of justice] careen out of balance!” [So] I come to judge every one of you as his ways deserve.”
Ezekiel Explains Why Jerusalem Collapsed
21 On the 5th day of the 10th month of the 12th year of our captivity, a [refugee] who escaped from [Babylonian-occupied] Jerusalem runs to me, crying, “[Our] city lies smashed!” See Eze 40:1.
22 Flash back to the evening before the escaped [survivor's] arrival, 😇: The hand of YHVH[comes to rest] upon me. [YAH] opens my mouth [to speak prophesies] until the [refugee] straggles up to me in the morning. [Words] flow from my lips. [My tongue] lies mute no longer!
24[YAH] says, “Son of Adam, the people (who infest the wasted land of Israel) blab and brag, ‘Abraham {Father-Of-Billions} was [just] one [man]. Yet he inherited the [promised] land. We're a [mighty] multitude. [So] the [promised] land is our god-given inheritance!’ The only way to inherit the promised land is to do good deeds. Genetic and geographical advantages are irrelevant.
25So say to the [deluded Israelis], ‘AdonaiYHVH says, ‘You eat [meat] with blood [dripping out of it]! You lift up your eyes toward your idols. You shed [innocent] blood. So [how] could [I let] you [killers] possess the [promised] land? Or, ‘You eat over the blood,’ in some kind of necromancy.
26You rely on your war-sword. Your [women] wreak abhorrent [atrocities]! Every man [among you] defiles his neighbor's wife! How could [I let] you own [earth's finest] land?!’ Or, ‘You take your stand [with] your sword,’ in some Necromancer's pose awaiting satanic rites.
27Tell the [ingrates] this: ‘AdonaiYHVH foretells, ‘As I live, you wasteland waste-products soon fall by the sword. In the open field I give [your flesh] to beasts' devouring-mouths. Everyone in forts and caves comes to die of plague.
28I come to lay [your] land stunningly desolate. I eradicate her forceful arrogance. The mountains of Israel soon lie deserted. No one passes through.
29Then you finally grasp that I am YHVH{The-omni-temporal-Creator}, after I stun [your] country with the ruin caused by all the monstrous crimes [you] commit. YHVH does not ruin the earth. Sins ruin the earth. YHVH simply lets causes have their effects.
30And you, ‘son of Adam’: your bratty people are still talking against you by the walls and in the doors of [their] houses. Your neighbors all yak at each other, grinning, “Come on, please, [let's go] hear what [new] word comes forth from YHVH.” Fakers infest Judeo-Christian culture, especially Christian media and ‘prophetic word’ Pentecostal gatherings.
31*So the [liars] come to you at the common courts. They sit before you, pretending to be my people. They hear your commands. But they won't execute them. With their mouth[s] they gush overflowing [Christian] love. But their heart[s] chase after gain.
32*So look, 😇. The [hypocrites] experience you, [the prophet,] like a beautiful song sung by a pleasant-voiced [entertainer] who plays [his instrument] well: they hear your words, but they never execute them.
33But when [your prediction] happens, (watch; it comes,) finally the [worldlings] see that in their midst lived [my] prophet.”
Older Testament 
*