¹⁰ “Therefore you, O son of man, say to the house of Israel: ‘Thus you say, “If our transgressions and our sins lie upon us, and we ^(A)pine^[a] away in them, ^(B)how can we then live?” ’ ¹¹ Say to them: ‘As I live,’ says the Lord God, ^(C)‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked ^(D)turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For ^(E)why should you die, O house of Israel?’

The Fairness of God’s Judgment

¹² “Therefore you, O son of man, say to the children of your people: ‘The ^(F)righteousness of the righteous man shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression; as for the wickedness of the wicked, ^(G)he shall not fall because of it in the day that he turns from his wickedness; nor shall the righteous be able to live because of his righteousness in the day that he sins.’ ¹³ When I say to the righteous that he shall surely live, ^(H)but he trusts in his own righteousness and commits iniquity, none of his righteous works shall be remembered; but because of the iniquity that he has committed, he shall die. ¹⁴ Again, ^(I)when I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ if he turns from his sin and does ^[b]what is lawful and ^[c]right, ¹⁵ if the wicked ^(J)restores the pledge, ^(K)gives back what he has stolen, and walks in ^(L)the statutes of life without committing iniquity, he shall surely live; he shall not die. ^16 (M)None of his sins which he has committed shall be remembered against him; he has done what is lawful and right; he shall surely live.

^17 (N)“Yet the children of your people say, ‘The way of the Lord is not ^[d]fair.’ But it is their way which is not fair! ^18 (O)When the righteous turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, he shall die because of it. ¹⁹ But when the wicked turns from his wickedness and does what is lawful and right, he shall live because of it. ²⁰ Yet you say, ^(P)‘The way of the Lord is not ^[e]fair.’ O house of Israel, I will judge every one of you according to his own ways.”