12. Therefore, thou Ben Adam, say unto the Bnei Amecha, The tzidkat hatzaddik (righteousness of a righteous man) shall not save him in his Yom Peysha (Day of Rebellion, Day of his Transgession); as for the rishat harashah, he shall not fall thereby in his Yom Shuv (Day of Turning, Repentance) from his resha; neither shall the tzaddik be able to live his tzedakah in his Yom Chattot (day when he commits sin).
13. When I shall say to the tzaddik, that he shall surely live, if he trust in his own tzedakah, and commit evil, all his tzidkot (righteousnesses) shall not be remembered; but for his evil that he hath committed, he shall die in it.
14. Again, when I say unto the rashah, Thou shalt surely die and he turn from his chattat, and do that which is mishpat and tzedakah;
15. If the rashah give back the chavol (borrower's pledge), give back what he has stolen, walk in the chukkot hachayyim, without committing evil; he shall surely live, he shall not die.
16. None of his chattot that he hath committed shall be remembered against him; he hath done that which is mishpat and tzedakah; he shall surely live.
17. Yet the Bnei Amecha say, The Derech Adonoi is not proper; but as for them, their derech is not proper.
18. When the tzaddik turneth from his tzedakah, and committeth evil, he shall even die thereby.
19. But if the rashah turn from his resha, and do that which is mishpat and tzedakah, he shall live thereby.
20. Yet ye say, The Derech Adonoi is not proper. O ye Bais Yisroel, I will judge you every one according to his drakhim.
21. And it came to pass in the twelfth shanah of our Golus, in the tenth month, on the fifth day of the month, that one that had escaped out of Yerushalayim came unto me, saying, The Ir (City, Jerusalem) has fallen [see Ezek. 24:26].
22. Now the Yad Hashem was upon me in the erev before he that was escaped arrived; and He had opened my mouth before he came to me in the boker; and my mouth was opened, and I was no more dumb.