15. For instance, they might give back a debtor’s security, return what they have stolen, and obey my life-giving laws, no longer doing what is evil. If they do this, then they will surely live and not die.
16. None of their past sins will be brought up again, for they have done what is just and right, and they will surely live.
17. “Your people are saying, ‘The Lord isn’t doing what’s right,’ but it is they who are not doing what’s right.
18. For again I say, when righteous people turn away from their righteous behavior and turn to evil, they will die.
19. But if wicked people turn from their wickedness and do what is just and right, they will live.
20. O people of Israel, you are saying, ‘The Lord isn’t doing what’s right.’ But I judge each of you according to your deeds.”
21. On January 8, during the twelfth year of our captivity, a survivor from Jerusalem came to me and said, “The city has fallen!”
22. The previous evening the lord had taken hold of me and given me back my voice. So I was able to speak when this man arrived the next morning.
23. Then this message came to me from the lord:
24. “Son of man, the scattered remnants of Israel living among the ruined cities keep saying, ‘Abraham was only one man, yet he gained possession of the entire land. We are many; surely the land has been given to us as a possession.’
25. So tell these people, ‘This is what the Sovereign lord says: You eat meat with blood in it, you worship idols, and you murder the innocent. Do you really think the land should be yours?
26. Murderers! Idolaters! Adulterers! Should the land belong to you?’
27. “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. And I will send wild animals to eat those living in the open fields. Those hiding in the forts and caves will die of disease.