Ezekiel 18-19

New King James Version

‘The ^(A)fathers have eaten sour grapes,
And the children’s teeth are set on edge’?

⁴ “Behold, all souls are ^(B)Mine;
The soul of the father
As well as the soul of the son is Mine;
^(C)The soul who sins shall die.
⁵ But if a man is just
And does what is lawful and right;
^6 (D)If he has not eaten ^[a]on the mountains,
Nor lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel,
Nor ^(E)defiled his neighbor’s wife,
Nor approached ^(F)a woman during her impurity;
⁷ If he has not ^(G)oppressed anyone,
But has restored to the debtor his ^(H)pledge;
Has robbed no one by violence,
But has ^(I)given his bread to the hungry
And covered the naked with ^(J)clothing;
⁸ If he has not ^[b]exacted ^(K)usury
Nor taken any increase,
But has withdrawn his hand from iniquity
And ^(L)executed true ^[c]judgment between man and man;
⁹ If he has walked in My statutes
And kept My judgments faithfully—
He is just;
He shall surely ^(M)live!”
Says the Lord God.

¹⁰ “If he begets a son who is a robber
Or ^(N)a shedder of blood,
Who does any of these things
¹¹ And does none of those duties,
But has eaten ^[d]on the mountains
Or defiled his neighbor’s wife;
¹² If he has oppressed the poor and needy,
Robbed by violence,
Not restored the pledge,
Lifted his eyes to the idols,
Or ^(O)committed abomination;
¹³ If he has exacted usury
Or taken increase—
Shall he then live?
He shall not live!
If he has done any of these abominations,
He shall surely die;
^(P)His blood shall be upon him.

¹⁴ “If, however, he begets a son
Who sees all the sins which his father has done,
And considers but does not do likewise;
^15 (Q)Who has not eaten ^[e]on the mountains,
Nor lifted his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel,
Nor defiled his neighbor’s wife;
¹⁶ Has not oppressed anyone,
Nor withheld a pledge,
Nor robbed by violence,
But has given his bread to the hungry
And covered the naked with clothing;
¹⁷ Who has withdrawn his hand from ^[f]the poor
And not received usury or increase,
But has executed My judgments
And walked in My statutes—
He shall not die for the iniquity of his father;
He shall surely live!

¹⁸ “As for his father,
Because he cruelly oppressed,
Robbed his brother by violence,
And did what is not good among his people,
Behold, ^(R)he shall die for his iniquity.

‘What is your mother? A lioness:
She lay down among the lions;
Among the young lions she nourished her cubs.
³ She brought up one of her cubs,
And ^(AP)he became a young lion;
He learned to catch prey,
And he devoured men.
⁴ The nations also heard of him;
He was trapped in their pit,
And they brought him with chains to the land of ^(AQ)Egypt.

⁵ ‘When she saw that she waited, that her hope was lost,
She took ^(AR)another of her cubs and made him a young lion.
^6 (AS)He roved among the lions,
And ^(AT)became a young lion;
He learned to catch prey;
He devoured men.
^7 [g]He knew their desolate places,
And laid waste their cities;
The land with its fullness was desolated
By the noise of his roaring.
^8 (AU)Then the nations set against him from the provinces on every side,
And spread their net over him;
^(AV)He was trapped in their pit.
^9 (AW)They put him in a cage with ^[h]chains,
And brought him to the king of Babylon;
They brought him in nets,
That his voice should no longer be heard on ^(AX)the mountains of Israel.

¹⁰ ‘Your mother was ^(AY)like a vine in your ^[i]bloodline,
Planted by the waters,
^(AZ)Fruitful and full of branches
Because of many waters.
¹¹ She had strong branches for scepters of rulers.
^(BA)She towered in stature above the thick branches,
And was seen in her height amid the ^[j]dense foliage.
¹² But she was ^(BB)plucked up in fury,
She was cast down to the ground,
And the ^(BC)east wind dried her fruit.
Her strong branches were broken and withered;
The fire consumed them.
¹³ And now she is planted in the wilderness,
In a dry and thirsty land.
^14 (BD)Fire has come out from a rod of her branches
And devoured her fruit,
So that she has no strong branch—a scepter for ruling.’ ”