13. "Suppose I tell someone who is godly that he will live. And he trusts in the fact that he used to do what was right. But now he does what is evil. Then I will not remember any of the right things he has done. He will die because he has done so many evil things.
14. "Suppose I say to a sinful person, 'You can be sure you will die.' And then he turns away from his sin. He does what is fair and right.
15. He gives back what he took as security for a loan. He returns what he has stolen. He follows my rules that give life. He does not do what is evil. Then you can be sure he will live. He will not die.
16. None of the sins he has committed will be held against him. He has done what is fair and right. So you can be sure he will live.
17. "In spite of that, your people say, 'What the Lord does isn't fair.' But it is what you do that is not fair.
18. "Suppose someone who is godly stops doing what is right. And he does what is evil. Then he will die because of it.
19. But suppose a sinful person turns away from the evil things he has done. And he does what is fair and right. Then he will live by doing that.
20. "In spite of that, you people of Israel say, 'What the Lord does isn't fair.' But I will judge each of you based on how you have lived."
21. It was the 12th year since we had been brought to Babylonia as prisoners. On the fifth day of the tenth month, a man who had escaped from Jerusalem came to bring me a report. He said, "The city has fallen!"
22. The evening before the man arrived, the Lord put his strong hand on me. He opened my mouth before the man came to me in the morning. So my mouth was opened. I was no longer silent.
23. Then a message came to me from the Lord. He said,
24. "Son of man, the people who live in those broken-down buildings in Israel are saying, 'Abraham was only one man. But he owned the land. We are many people. The land must certainly belong to us.'