[ This chapter deals with responsibility of those who are called to be Watchmen. ] 1 AGAIN the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

2 son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say unto them, When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man of their coasts, and set him for their watchman:

3 If when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he [ The watchman. ] blow the trumpet, and warn the people; [ So the responsibility of the watchmen is to simply blow the trumpet as a warning. ]

4 Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning; [ So if you hear the trumpet and you do nothing. ] if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head. [ And if the sword does come and offers up your destruction you have no one to blame (for your sins ) but yourself as you were warned beforehand. So who are the watchmen of our day? The first presidency, the 12 apostles. They are on the towers, they set high upon the hill seeing everything that is going on better than we can. They are the ones who declare the voice of warning to us. What is their warning today? That Christ lives and that he will return in glory. ]

5 He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not warning; his blood shall be upon him. But he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul.

6 But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman’s hand.

7 so thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me.

8 When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.

9 Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way [ If the watchman does his job of warning those whom he is called to warn. ] to turn [ To repent. ] from it; if he do not turn from his way, [ And the people do not do as the watchman has warned them to do. ] he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul. [ The watchman will not be held accountable for the person who was warned and did nothing. ]

[ Verse 10-20 deals with repentance. ] 10 Therefore, O thou son of man, speak unto the house of Israel; Thus ye speak, saying, If our transgressions and our sins be upon us, and we pine away in them, how should we then live?

11 Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; [ This is an important phrase that we should make note of. God does not want us to die in sin, he finds no pleasure in that. He only wants for us to return to him but he also knows that there is nothing that he can do about it, if man will not repent. God can't rob justice, No unclean thing can dwell with God so the hands of God are tied no matter how much he may love someone. ] but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, [ Spiritually. Especially when God has provided a way for you, just repent. (Ezekiel 20) ] O house of Israel?

12 Therefore, thou son of man, say unto the children of thy people, The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him [ Just because you are hanging around righteous people that will not save you, you are responsible for yourself. ] in the day of his transgression: as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall thereby in the day that [ Or if you will repent you can have the atonement applied and you will be shown mercy. The spiritual death will escape you. ] he turneth [ Repents. ] from his wickedness; neither shall the righteous be able to live for his righteousness in the day that he sinneth.

13 When I shall say to the righteous, that he shall surely live; if he trust to his own righteousness, and commit iniquity, all his righteousnesses shall not be remembered; but for his iniquity that he hath committed, he shall die [ Spiritual death, he will be cut off from God. ] for it.

14 Again, when I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; if he turn from his sin, and do that which is lawful and right;

15 If the wicked restore the pledge, [ Renews his covenant with God. ] give again that he had robbed, [ Repentance and restitution. ] walk in the statutes of life, [ Will live the laws and commandments of God. ] without committing iniquity; he shall surely live, [ Shall have eternal life. ] he shall not die. [ And will not be cut off from the presence of God. ]

16  None of his sins that he hath committed shall be mentioned unto him: [ If we will repent and help others to do the same then none of our sins will be remembered. (Isaiah 43:25; D&C 58:42-43) ] he hath done that which is lawful and right; he shall surely live.

17 ¶ Yet the children of thy people say, The way of the Lord is not equal: but as for them, their way is not equal.

18  When the righteous turneth from his righteousness, [ When we stop following the ways of God. ] and committeth iniquity, he shall even die thereby. [ We die. We will be brought into the captivity of spirit prison. This is the time to repent then. ]

19 But if the wicked turn from his wickedness, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall live thereby.

20 ¶ Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal. [ In this verse and the two previous verse the Lord is suggesting to us that we are not to find fault with God. How do we do that, find fault with God? We do it when we see that the Lord handled one person one way and another person another way. That business rests with the Lord and his priesthood leaders. If we try to do it we never have the entire story, we simply do not have access to all of the details we are not there when one confesses, of even what they may have confessed too. As a matter of fact counsel is often give to the two parties involved in the same transgression to not compare what they were asked to do, or what counsel might have been given. The Lord knows and he will treat each with respect to their own sins. There are a great many factors that come into the decisions made. ] O ye house of Israel, I will judge you every one after his ways.

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 one that had escaped out of Jerusalem came unto me, saying, The city is smitten.

22 Now the hand of the LORD was upon me in the evening, afore he that was escaped came; and had opened my mouth, until he came to me in the morning; and my mouth was opened, and I was no more dumb.

23 Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

24 son of man, they that inhabit those wastes of the land of Israel speak, saying, Abraham was one, and he inherited the land: but we are many; the land is given us for inheritance.

25 Wherefore say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Ye eat with the blood, and lift up your eyes toward your idols, and shed blood: and shall ye possess the land?

26 Ye stand upon your sword, ye work abomination, and ye defile every one his neighbour’s wife: and shall ye possess the land?

27 Say thou thus unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; As I live, surely they that are in the wastes shall fall by the sword, and him that is in the open field will I give to the beasts to be devoured, and they that be in the forts and in the caves shall die of the pestilence.

28 For I will lay the land most desolate, and the pomp of her strength shall cease; and the mountains of Israel shall be desolate, that none shall pass through.

29 Then shall they know that I am the LORD, when I have laid the land most desolate because of all their abominations which they have committed.

30 ¶ Also, thou son of man, the children of thy people still are talking against thee by the walls and in the doors of the houses, and speak one to another, every one to his brother, saying, Come, I pray you, and hear what is the word that cometh forth from the LORD.

31 And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them: for with their mouth they shew much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness.

32 And, lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument: for they hear thy words, but they do them not.

33 And when this cometh to pass, (lo, it will come,) then shall they know that a prophet hath been among them.