14. I may warn someone evil that he is going to die, but if he stops sinning and does what is right and good —
15. for example, if he returns the security he took for a loan or gives back what he stole — if he stops sinning and follows the laws that give life, he will not die, but live.
16. I will forgive the sins he has committed, and he will live because he has done what is right and good.
17. “And your people say that what I do isn't right! No, it's their way that isn't right.
18. When someone righteous stops doing good and starts doing evil, he will die for it.
19. When someone evil gives up sinning and does what is right and good, he has saved his life.
20. But Israel, you say that what I do isn't right. I am going to judge you by what you do.”
21. On the fifth day of the tenth month of the twelfth year of our exile, someone who had escaped from Jerusalem came and told me that the city had fallen.
22. The evening before he came, I had felt the powerful presence of the Lord. When the man arrived the next morning, the Lord gave me back the power of speech.
23. The Lord spoke to me.
24. “Mortal man,” he said, “the people who are living in the ruined cities of the land of Israel are saying: ‘Abraham was only one man, and he was given the whole land. There are many of us, so now the land is ours.’
25. “Tell them what I, the Sovereign Lord, am saying: You eat meat with the blood still in it. You worship idols. You commit murder. What makes you think that the land belongs to you?