13. I may promise the righteous person that he will certainly live. But if he trusts in the right things that he has done and he does evil, none of the right things that he has done will be remembered. He will die because of the evil things he has done.
14. I may warn the wicked person that he will certainly die. But suppose he turns from his sin and does what is fair and right.
15. He returns the security for a loan, pays back everything he stole, lives by the rules of life, and does nothing evil. Then he will certainly live. He will not die.
16. None of the sins that he has done will be remembered. He has done what is fair and right. He will certainly live.
17. “But your people say, ‘The Lord’s way is unfair.’ Yet, their ways are unfair.
18. If the righteous person turns from the right things that he has done and does evil, he will die because of it.
19. If the wicked person turns from his wickedness and does what is fair and right, he will live because of it.
20. Yet, the people of Israel say, ‘The Lord’s way is unfair.’ I will judge each of you by your own ways, people of Israel.”
21. On the fifth day of the tenth month in the twelfth year of our captivity, a refugee from Jerusalem came to me. He said, “The city has been captured.”
22. The evening before the refugee arrived, the power of the Lord came over me. On the morning the refugee arrived, the Lord made me speak. So I spoke, and I was no longer quiet.