Ezekiel 33:10-20

English Standard Version

Why Will You Die, Israel?

¹⁰ “And you, ^(A)son of man, say to the house of Israel, Thus have you said: ‘Surely our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and ^(B)we rot away because of them. ^(C)How then can we live?’ ¹¹ Say to them, ^(D)As I live, declares the Lord God, ^(E)I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; ^(F)turn back, turn back from your evil ways, ^(G)for why will you die, O house of Israel?

^12 (H)“And you, son of man, say to ^(I)your people, ^(J)The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him when he transgresses, ^(K)and as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall by it when he turns from his wickedness, ^(L)and the righteous shall not be able to live by his righteousness^[a] when he sins. ¹³ Though I say to the righteous that he shall surely live, yet ^(M)if he trusts in his righteousness and does injustice, none of his righteous deeds shall be remembered, but in his injustice that he has done he shall die. ¹⁴ Again, ^(N)though I say to the wicked, ^(O)‘You shall surely die,’ yet ^(P)if he turns from his sin and does what is just and right, ¹⁵ if the wicked ^(Q)restores the pledge, ^(R)gives back what he has taken by robbery, and walks ^(S)in the statutes of life, not doing injustice, he shall surely live; he shall not die. ^16 (T)None of the sins that he has committed shall be remembered against him. He has done what is just and right; he shall surely live.

¹⁷ “Yet ^(U)your people say, ^(V)‘The way of the Lord is not just,’ when it is their own way that is not just. ^18 (W)When the righteous turns from his righteousness and does injustice, he shall die for it. ¹⁹ And ^(X)when the wicked turns from his wickedness and does what is just and right, he shall live by this. ²⁰ Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ O house of Israel, ^(Y)I will judge each of you according to his ways.”