16. He will not be punished for any of his sins. He now does what is right and fair. He will surely live.
17. “But your people say: ‘The way of the Lord is not fair.’ But it is their own way that is not fair.
18. The good person might turn from his goodness and do evil. Then he will die for his evil.
19. But the wicked person might stop doing evil and do what is right and fair. Then he will live.
20. You still say: ‘The way of the Lord is not fair.’ Israel, I will judge each of you by his own ways.”
21. It happened in the twelfth year of our captivity. It was on the fifth day of the tenth month. A person who had escaped from Jerusalem came to me. He said, “Jerusalem has been defeated.”
22. Now I had felt the power of the Lord on me the evening before. The Lord had made me able to talk again. He did this before the person came to me in the morning. I could speak. I was not without speech anymore.
23. Then the Lord spoke his word to me. He said:
24. “Human being, people who live in the ruins in the land of Israel are saying: ‘Abraham was only one person. Yet he was given the land as his own. Surely the land has been given to us, who are many, as our very own.’
25. So say to them: ‘This is what the Lord God says: You eat meat with the blood still in it. You ask your idols for help. You murder people. Should you then have the land as your very own?
26. You depend on your sword. You do terrible things which I hate. Each of you commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife. So should you have the land?’
27. “Say to them: ‘This is what the Lord God says: As surely as I live, this is true. Those who are among the city ruins in Israel will be killed in war. Those who live in the country will be eaten by wild animals. People hiding in the strong places and caves will die of disease.
28. I will make the land an empty desert. The people’s pride in the land’s power will end. The mountains of Israel will become empty. No one will pass through them.
29. They will know that I am the Lord when I make the land an empty desert. This is because of the things they have done that I hate.’