17. “But your people say, ‘That’s not fair! The Lord cannot be like that!’ “But they are the people who are not fair! They are the people who must change!
18. If good people stop doing good and begin to sin, they will die because of their sins.
19. And if evil people stop doing wrong and start living right and being fair, they will live.
20. You still say that I am not fair, but I am telling you the truth. Family of Israel, everyone will be judged for what they do!”
21. On the fifth day of the tenth month in the twelfth year of exile, a person who had escaped from the battle in Jerusalem came to me and said, “The city has been taken!”
22. The evening before that person came to me, the power of the Lord came on me. The Lord opened my mouth. So when that person came, I could speak again.
23. Then the word of the Lord came to me. He said,