Old/New Testament
18 The Word of the LORD came to me again, saying:
2 “What do you mean when you speak this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge?’
3 “As I live,” says the Lord GOD, you shall no longer use this proverb in Israel.
4 “Behold, all souls are Mine. Both the soul of the father, and also the soul of the son, are Mine. The soul that sins, it shall die.
5 “But if a man is just, and does that which is lawful and right,
6 “has not eaten upon the mountains or lifted up his eyes to the idols of the House of Israel or defiled his neighbor’s wife or approached a menstruous woman,
7 “or oppressed anyone; if he has restored the pledge to his debtor, has robbed no one by violence, has given his bread to the hungry, and has covered the naked with a garment,
8 “has not lent with usury or taken any increase, has withdrawn his hand from iniquity, and has executed true judgment between man and man,
9 “and has walked in My Statutes, and has kept My Judgments, to deal truly, he is just. He shall surely live,” says the Lord GOD.
10 “If he begets a son who is a thief or a shedder of blood, if he does any of these things
11 “(even if he does not do all these things, but still has): eaten upon the mountains or defiled his neighbor’s wife,
12 “has oppressed the poor and needy or has robbed by violence or has not restored the pledge or has lifted up his eyes to idols or has committed abomination,
13 “has lent with usury or taken increase, shall he live? He shall not live, seeing he has done all these abominations. He shall die the death. His blood shall be upon himself.
14 “But if he begets a son who sees all his father’s sins which he has done, and fears but doesn’t do the same,
15 “so that he has not eaten upon the mountains or lifted up his eyes to the idols of the House of Israel or defiled his neighbor’s wife
16 “or oppressed anyone or withheld the pledge or robbed by violence; but has given his bread to the hungry, has covered the naked with a garment,
17 “has not withdrawn his hand from the afflicted or received usury or increase but has executed My Judgments and walked in My Statutes, he shall not die in the iniquity of his father. He shall surely live.
18 “His father, because he cruelly oppressed and robbed his brother by violence, and has not done good among his people, lo, he dies in his iniquity.
19 “Yet you say, ‘Why shouldn’t the son bear the iniquity of the father?’ —because the son has executed judgment and justice and has kept all My Statutes and done them. He shall surely live.
20 “The same soul that sins shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, nor shall the father bear the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.
21 “But if the wicked will turn away from all his sins that he has committed, and keep all My Statutes, and does that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live and shall not die.
22 “All his transgressions that he has committed, they shall not be mentioned to him. In his righteousness that he has done, he shall live.
23 “Have I any desire that the wicked should die,” says the Lord GOD, “and not that he should live, if he returns from his ways?
24 “But if the righteous turns away from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, doing according to all the abominations that the wicked man does, shall he live? All his righteousness that he has done shall not be mentioned. In his transgression that he has committed, and in his sin that he has sinned, in them he shall die.
25 “Yet you say, ‘The way of the LORD is not equal.’ Hear now, O House of Israel! Is it not My way which is equal, and your ways unequal?
26 “When a righteous man turns away from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, he shall die for the same. He shall die for his iniquity that he has done.
27 “Again, when the wicked turns away from his wickedness that he has committed, and does that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive.
28 “Because he considers and turns away from all his transgressions that he has committed, he shall surely live and shall not die.
29 “Still, the House of Israel says, ‘The way of the LORD is not equal.’ O House of Israel! Is it not My way which is equal, and your ways unequal?
30 “Therefore, I will judge you, O House of Israel, everyone according to his ways,” says the Lord GOD. “Repent and turn away from all your transgressions, so iniquity shall not be your destruction.
31 “Cast away from you all your transgressions by which you have transgressed and make yourself a new heart and a new spirit. For why will you die, O House of Israel?
32 “For I do not desire the death of him who dies,” says the Lord GOD. “Repent, therefore, and live!”
19 “Also, take up a lamentation for the princes of Israel,
2 “and say, ‘Why did your mother, a lioness, lay down among the lions? She nourished her young ones among the lion’s whelps.
3 ‘And she brought up one of her whelps, and it became a lion. It learned to catch the prey, and it devoured men.
4 ‘The nations also heard of him. He was taken in their nets, and they brought him to the land of Egypt in chains.
5 ‘Now when she saw that she had waited, and her hope was lost, she took another of her whelps and made him a lion.
6 ‘which went among the lions, and became a lion, and learned to catch prey. He devoured men,
7 ‘and he knew their widows, and he destroyed their cities, and the land was wasted, and all that was in it, by the noise of his roaring.
8 ‘Then the nations set against him on every side of the countries and laid their nets for him. So, he was taken in their pit.
9 ‘And they put him in prison, in chains, and brought him to the king of Babel. They put him in a stronghold, so that his voice would no longer be heard upon the mountains of Israel.
10 ‘Your mother is like a vine in your blood, planted by the waters. She brought forth fruit and branches by the abundant waters,
11 ‘and she had strong rods for the scepters of those who bear rule. And her stature was exalted among the branches, and she appeared in her height with the multitude of her branches.
12 ‘But she was plucked up in wrath. She was cast down to the ground, and the East wind dried up her fruit. Her branches were broken and withered. The fire consumed the rod of her strength.
13 ‘And now she is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty ground.
14 ‘And fire has gone out of a rod of her branches, which has devoured her fruit, so that she has no strong rod, no ruling scepter.’” This is a lamentation and shall be a lamentation.
4 From where are wars and contentions among you? Do they not come from your sensual pleasures, which fight in your members?
2 You lust, and do not have. You envy and desire immoderately and cannot obtain. You fight and war and get nothing, because you do not ask.
3 You ask and do not receive because you ask amiss, so that you might spend it on your pleasures.
4 You adulterers and adulteresses, do you not know that the amity of the world is the enmity of God? Therefore, whoever will be a friend of the world, makes himself the enemy of God.
5 Do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit that dwells in us longs enviously”?
6 But it offers more grace, and therefore says, “God resists the proud, and gives grace to the humble.
7 Submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
8 Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners. And purge your hearts, you double-minded.
9 Suffer afflictions and sorrow, and weep. Let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy into heaviness.
10 Cast yourselves down before the Lord, and He will lift you up.
11 Do not speak evil of one another, brothers. The one who speaks evil of his brother, or the one who condemns his brother, speaks evil of the Law, and condemns the Law. And if you condemn the Law, you are not an observer of the Law, but a judge.
12 There is one Lawgiver, Who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another?
13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into a certain city and continue there a year and buy and sell and gain a profit.”
14 And yet, you cannot say what shall happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is but a vapor that appears for a little time and afterward vanishes away.
15 Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, and if we live, we will do this or that”.
16 But now you exult in your boastings. All such boasting is evil.
17 Therefore, to him who knows how to do well, and does not do so, to him it is sin.
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