¹The word of Yahweh came to me, saying:

²What is it to you, that you use this proverb on the ground of Israel, saying: The fathers eat sour grapes, and the children's teeth are blunt?

³As I live, the utterance of the Adonai Yahweh: surely it will not be yours again to use this proverb in Israel.

⁴Look, all the living beings are mine; as the living being of the father, so the living being of the son, they are mine. The living being that sins — it will die.

⁵And a man, if he is righteous and does justice and righteousness:

⁶to the mountains he did not eat, and his eyes he did not lift up to the idols of the house of Israel, and the woman of his neighbor he did not defile, and to a menstrual woman he did not near;

⁷and does not oppress anyone, returns his pledge for a debt, does not seize plunder, gives his food to the hungry, and covers the naked with a garment;

⁸does not lend at interest, and takes no increase, turns back his hand from injustice, does reliable justice between man and man;

⁹walks in my statutes and keeps my justice, to do what is reliable — he is righteous; he will surely live, the utterance of the Adonai Yahweh.

¹⁰and he fathers a violent son who pours out blood, and does, alas, any one of these things,

¹¹and he himself has not done any of these things, but has also eaten at the mountains and has defiled the wife of his neighbor,

¹²has oppressed the poor and needy, has seized plunder, has not returned a pledge, has lifted up his eyes to the idols, has done abomination,

¹³has lent at interest and taken increase — will he live? He will not live. All these abominations he has done; he will surely be put to death, his blood will be on him.

¹⁴And look, he fathers a son who sees all the sins of his father that he did; he sees, and does not do like them.

¹⁵he has not eaten on the mountains, has not lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, has not defiled the wife of his neighbor,

¹⁶has not oppressed anyone, has not taken a pledge, has not seized plunder, has given his food to the hungry and covered the naked with a garment;

¹⁷has turned back his hand from the poor, has taken no interest or increase, has done my justice, has walked in my statutes — he will not die for the guilt of his father; he will surely live.

¹⁸As for his father, because he practiced extortion, robbed a brother by robbery, and did what is not good in the midst of his people — look, he died for his guilt.

¹⁹And you say: Why has the son not borne the guilt of the father? But the son has done justice and righteousness; he has kept all my statutes and done them; he will surely live.

²⁰The being that sins, it will die. A son will not bear the guilt of the father, and a father will not bear the guilt of the son; the righteousness of the righteous will be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked will be upon him.

²¹But the wicked, if he turns back from all his sins that he has done, and keeps all my statutes, and does justice and righteousness, he will surely live; he will not die.

²²None of his transgressions that he did will be remembered against him; in his righteousness that he did he will live.

²³Do I really take delight in the death of the wicked, the utterance of the Adonai Yahweh? Is it not rather in his turning back from his ways, that he may live?

²⁴And in the righteous's return from his righteousness, and he made injustice, as all the abominations which the wicked made, will he make — and live? All his righteousness which he made will not be remembered; in his breach which he committed and in his sin which he sinned, in them he will die.

²⁵But you say: 'The way of the Lord is not evenly weighed.' Listen, please, house of Israel: is my way not evenly weighed? Is it not your ways that are not evenly weighed?

²⁶In the righteous's turning back from his righteousness — he does injustice and dies for them: in his injustice that he did, he will die.

²⁷And when the wicked turns back from his wickedness that he did, and does justice and righteousness, he himself will keep his being alive.

²⁸He saw and turned back from all his transgressions that he had done; he will surely live; he will not die.

²⁹But the house of Israel say: 'The way of the Lord is not evenly weighed.' Are my ways not evenly weighed, house of Israel? Is it not your ways that are not evenly weighed?

³⁰Therefore I will judge you, each man according to his ways, house of Israel, the utterance of the Adonai Yahweh. Turn back, and turn away from all your transgressions, so that guilt will not become a stumbling-block to you.

³¹Throw off from yourselves all your transgressions, by which you rebelled, and make yourselves a new heart and a new breath. Why will you die, house of Israel?

³²For I take no delight in the death of the one who dies, the utterance of the Adonai Yahweh. So turn back, and live.