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.'
25. "So tell them, 'The Lord and King says, "You eat meat that still has blood in it. You worship your gods. You commit murder. So should you still possess the land?
26. You depend on your swords. You do things I hate. Each one of you has sex with your neighbor's wife. So should you still possess the land?" '
27. "Tell them, 'The Lord and King says, "The people who are left in those broken-down buildings will be killed with swords. Wild animals will eat up those who are out in the country. Those who are in caves and other safe places will die of a plague. And that is just as sure as I am alive.
28. " ' "I will turn the land into a dry and empty desert. The strength Jerusalem is so proud of will come to an end. The mountains of Israel will be deserted. No one will travel across them.
29. So I will turn the land into a dry and empty desert. I will punish my people because of all of the evil things they have done. I hate those things. They will know that I am the Lord." '
30. "Son of man, your people are talking about you. They are getting together by the walls of their houses and at their doors. They are saying to one another, 'Come. Listen to the Lord's message.'