Ezekiel 18:20-32

New King James Version

^20 (A)The soul who sins shall die. ^(B)The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. ^(C)The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, ^(D)and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.

²¹ “But ^(E)if a wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed, keeps all My statutes, and does what is lawful and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die. ^22 (F)None of the transgressions which he has committed shall be remembered against him; because of the righteousness which he has done, he shall ^(G)live. ^23 (H)Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?” says the Lord God, “and not that he should turn from his ways and live?

²⁴ “But ^(I)when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and does according to all the abominations that the wicked man does, shall he live? ^(J)All the righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered; because of the unfaithfulness of which he is guilty and the sin which he has committed, because of them he shall die.

²⁵ “Yet you say, ^(K)‘The way of the Lord is not fair.’ Hear now, O house of Israel, is it not My way which is fair, and your ways which are not fair? ^26 (L)When a righteous man turns away from his righteousness, commits iniquity, and dies in it, it is because of the iniquity which he has done that he dies. ²⁷ Again, ^(M)when a wicked man turns away from the wickedness which he committed, and does what is lawful and right, he preserves himself alive. ²⁸ Because he ^(N)considers and turns away from all the transgressions which he committed, he shall surely live; he shall not die. ^29 (O)Yet the house of Israel says, ‘The way of the Lord is not fair.’ O house of Israel, is it not My ways which are fair, and your ways which are not fair?

^30 (P)“Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways,” says the Lord God. ^(Q)“Repent, and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin. ^31 (R)Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a ^(S)new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O house of Israel? ³² For ^(T)I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies,” says the Lord God. “Therefore turn and ^(U)live!”