11. Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord Jehovah, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?
12. And thou, son of man, say unto the children of thy people, The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression; and as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall thereby in the day that he turneth from his wickedness; neither shall the righteous be able to live thereby in the day that he sinneth.
13. When I say to the righteous that he shall certainly live, and he trusteth to his righteousness and doeth what is wrong, none of his righteous acts shall be remembered; but in his unrighteousness which he hath done, in it shall he die.
14. And when I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt certainly die, and he turneth from his sin, and doeth judgment and justice;
15. if the wicked restore the pledge, give again that he had taken by robbery, walk in the statutes of life, doing nothing that is wrong; he shall certainly live, he shall not die.
16. None of his sins which he hath committed shall be remembered against him: he hath done judgment and justice; he shall certainly 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, and doeth what is wrong, then he shall die therein.
19. And when the wicked turneth from his wickedness, and doeth judgment and justice, he shall live for these things.
20. Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal. O 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, on the fifth of the month, that one who had escaped out of Jerusalem came unto me, saying, The city is smitten!
22. Now the hand of Jehovah had been upon me in the evening, before he that had escaped came; and he had opened my mouth against his coming to me in the morning; and my mouth was opened, and I was no more dumb.
23. And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,
24. Son of man, they that inhabit those waste places in the land of Israel speak, saying, Abraham was one, and he inherited this land, and we are many: the land is given us for a possession.
25. Therefore say unto them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: 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 Jehovah: As I live, verily they that are in the waste places 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 are in the strongholds and in the caves shall die of the pestilence.
28. And I will make the land a desolation and an astonishment, and the pride of her strength shall cease; and the mountains of Israel shall be desolated, so that none shall pass through.
29. And they shall know that I am Jehovah, when I have made the land a desolation and an astonishment because of all their abominations which they have committed.