16. None of the sins he has committed will be counted against him. He has done what is just and right; he will certainly live.
17. “Yet your people say, ‘The behavior of the Lord is not right,’ when it is their behavior that is not right.
18. When a righteous man turns from his godliness and commits iniquity, he will die for it.
19. When the wicked turns from his sin and does what is just and right, he will live because of it.
20. Yet you say, ‘The behavior of the Lord is not right.’ House of Israel, I will judge each of you according to his behavior.”
21. In the twelfth year of our exile, in the tenth month, on the fifth of the month, a refugee came to me from Jerusalem saying, “The city has been defeated!”
22. Now the hand of the Lord had been on me the evening before the refugee reached me, but the Lord opened my mouth by the time the refugee arrived in the morning; he opened my mouth and I was no longer unable to speak.
23. The word of the Lord came to me:
24. “Son of man, the ones living in these ruins in the land of Israel are saying, ‘Abraham was only one man, yet he possessed the land, but we are many; surely the land has been given to us for a possession.’
25. Therefore say to them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: You eat the meat with the blood still in it, pray to your idols, and shed blood. Do you really think you will possess the land?
26. You rely on your swords and commit abominable deeds; each of you defiles his neighbor’s wife. Will you possess the land?’
27. “This is what you must say to them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: As surely as I live, those living in the ruins will die by the sword, those in the open field I will give to the wild beasts for food, and those who are in the strongholds and caves will die of disease.
28. I will turn the land into a desolate ruin; her confident pride will come to an end. The mountains of Israel will be so desolate no one will pass through them.
29. Then they will know that I am the Lord when I turn the land into a desolate ruin because of all the abominable deeds they have committed.’
30. “But as for you, son of man, your people (who are talking about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses) say to one another, ‘Come hear the word that comes from the Lord.’
31. They come to you in crowds, and they sit in front of you as my people. They hear your words, but do not obey them. For they talk lustfully, and their heart is set on their own advantage.
32. Realize that to them you are like a sensual song, a beautiful voice and skilled musician. They hear your words, but they do not obey them.