1 Jehovah’s word continued to come to me:

2 »What do you mean by using this proverb concerning the land of Israel: ‘The fathers eat sour grapes, but the children's teeth are set on edge?’

3 ‘»As I live, declares the Lord Jehovah: ‘You are surely not going to use this proverb in Israel anymore.

4 ‘»The life of every person belongs to me. The life of the father as well as the life of the son is mine. The person who sins will die.

5 ‘»If a man is righteous and practices justice and righteousness,

6 and does not eat at the mountain shrines or lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, or defile his neighbor's wife or approach a woman during her menstrual period;

7 ‘»if a man does not oppress anyone, but restores to the debtor his pledge, does not commit robbery, but gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with clothing.

8 ‘»If he does not lend money on interest or take increase, if he keeps his hand from iniquity and executes true justice between man and man,

9 ‘»if he lives by my rules and obeys my laws faithfully this person is righteous. He will certainly live,’ declares the Lord Jehovah.

10 ‘»Suppose this person has a son who robs and murders. The son does all these other things

11 that his father never did. He eats at the illegal mountain worship sites. He dishonors his neighbor's wife.

12 ‘»He oppresses the poor and needy. He robs. He does not return the security for a loan. He looks to idols for help. He does disgusting things.

13 ‘»He lends money for interest and makes excessive profits. Will this person live? He will not live. He has done all these disgusting things. So he must die, and he will be responsible for his own death.

14 ‘»Now suppose this son has a son. The son sees all the sins that his father does. He is afraid, so he does not do such things.

15 ‘»He does not eat at the illegal mountain worship sites or look for help from the idols of the nation of Israel. He does not dishonor his neighbor's wife.

16 ‘»He does not oppress anyone. He does not keep the security for a loan. He does not rob anyone. He gives food to people who are hungry, and he gives clothes to those who are naked.

17 ‘»He keeps his hand from the poor and does not take interest or increase, but executes my ordinances, and walks in my statutes. He will not die for his father's iniquity. He will surely live.

18 ‘»As for his father, because he practiced extortion, robbed his brother and did what was not good among his people, he will die for his iniquity.

19 ‘»Yet you say: »Why should the son not bear the punishment for the father's iniquity?« When the son has practiced justice and righteousness and has observed all my statutes and done them, he shall surely live.

20 ‘»The person who sins will die. The son will not bear the punishment for the father's iniquity, nor will the father bear the punishment for the son's iniquity. The righteousness of the righteous will be upon himself. And the wickedness of the wicked will be upon himself.

21 ‘»If the wicked man turns from all his sins and observes all my statutes and practices justice and righteousness, he shall live; he shall not die.

22 ‘»All his transgressions he has committed will not be remembered against him. He will live because of his righteousness he has practiced.’

23 ‘»Do I have any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord Jehovah, that he should turn from his ways and live?

24 ‘»But suppose a righteous person turns away from doing right and he does evil things. He does all the disgusting things that the wicked person did. Will he live? All the right things that he has done will not be remembered because of his unfaithfulness and because of his sin. He will die because of them.

25 ‘»But you say: »Jehovah’s way is unfair.« Listen, nation of Israel, is my way fair? Is it your ways that are unfair?

26 ‘»When a righteous person turns away from doing right and does evil things, he will die. He will die because of the evil things he has done.

27 ‘»When a wicked person turns away from the wicked things that he has done and does what is fair and right, he will live.

28 ‘»He realized what he was doing and turned away from all the rebellious things that he had done. He will certainly live. He will not die.

29 ‘»But the nation of Israel says: Jehovah’s way is unfair. Is my way not fair, nation of Israel? Is it not your ways that are unfair?

30 ‘»That is why I will judge each of you by what you have done, people of Israel, declares the Lord Jehovah. Change the way you think and act. Repent! Turn away from all the rebellious things that you have done so that you will not fall into sin.

31 ‘»Give up all the evil you have been doing. Get yourselves new minds and hearts. Why do you Israelites want to die?

32 ‘»I do not want anyone to die,’ says the Lord Jehovah. ‘Turn away from repent of your sins and live.’«