1And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying:
2“What do you mean by using this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, ‘The fathers eat sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge’?
3As I live, declares the Lord Yahweh, this proverb shall no longer be used by you in Israel.
4Behold, all the lives are mine; as the life of the father, so also the life of the son is mine. The life that sins, it shall die.
5Now if a man is righteous and does justice and righteousness—
6he does not eat upon the mountains or lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel; he does not defile his neighbor’s wife or approach a woman during her menstrual impurity;
7he oppresses no one, but restores to the debtor his pledge; he commits no robbery; he gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with a garment;
8he does not lend at interest or take usury; he withholds his hand from injustice; he executes true justice between one man and another;
9he walks in my statutes and keeps my judgments, acting faithfully—he is righteous; he shall surely live, declares the Lord Yahweh.
10But if he begets a son who is violent, a shedder of blood, who does any one of these things
11though he himself did none of the righteous things his father did—rather, he even ate upon the mountains and defiled his neighbor’s wife,
12oppresses the poor and needy, commits robberies, does not restore a pledge, lifts up his eyes to the idols, commits abomination,
13he lends at interest and takes usury—and shall he live? He shall not live. He has done all these abominations; he shall surely be put to death; his blood shall be upon him.
14Now behold, if he begets a son who sees all the sins his father has committed, and considers, but does not do likewise—
15who does not eat upon the mountains or lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, does not defile his neighbor’s wife,
16oppresses no one, takes no pledge, commits no robbery, gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with a garment,
17withholds his hand from the poor, takes no interest or usury, does my judgments, walks in my statutes—he shall not die for his father’s iniquity; he shall surely live.
18As for his father, because he practiced extortion, robbed his brother by robbery, and did what is not good among his people—behold, he dies for his own iniquity.
19Yet you say, ‘Why does the son not bear the iniquity of the father?’ But the son has done justice and righteousness; he has kept all my statutes and done them; he shall surely live.
20The life that sins, it shall die. A son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, and a father shall not bear the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.
21But if the wicked turns from all his sins that he has committed, and keeps all my statutes and does justice and righteousness, he shall surely live; he shall not die.
22None of the transgressions he has committed shall be remembered against him; by the righteousness he has done he shall live.
23Do I take any pleasure at all in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord Yahweh, and not rather that he turn from his ways and live?
24But when a righteous man turns from his righteousness and does injustice, doing according to all the abominations that the wicked man does—shall he do them and live? None of the righteous deeds he has done shall be remembered; for the treachery he has committed and the sin he has sinned, for these he shall die.
25Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not fair.’ Hear now, house of Israel: Is my way not fair? Is it not your ways that are not fair?
26When a righteous man turns from his righteousness and does injustice, he shall die for it; for the injustice he has done he shall die.
27And when a wicked man turns from his wickedness that he has committed, and does justice and righteousness, he shall keep his life alive.
28Because he considered and turned from all his transgressions that he had committed, he shall surely live; he shall not die.
29Yet the house of Israel says, ‘The way of the Lord is not fair.’ Are my ways not fair, house of Israel? Is it not your ways that are not fair?
30Therefore I will judge you, house of Israel, each one according to his ways, declares the Lord Yahweh. Turn, and turn back from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not become a stumbling block to you.
31Cast away from yourselves all your transgressions by which you have transgressed, and make for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O house of Israel?
32For I do not delight in the death of the one who dies, declares the Lord Yahweh. So turn back and live!
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