Ezekiel 18:19-30

New King James Version

Turn and Live

¹⁹ “Yet you say, ‘Why ^(A)should the son not bear the guilt of the father?’ Because the son has done what is lawful and right, and has kept all My statutes and observed them, he shall surely live. ^20 (B)The soul who sins shall die. ^(C)The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. ^(D)The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, ^(E)and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.

²¹ “But ^(F)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 (G)None of the transgressions which he has committed shall be remembered against him; because of the righteousness which he has done, he shall ^(H)live. ^23 (I)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 ^(J)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? ^(K)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, ^(L)‘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 (M)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, ^(N)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 ^(O)considers and turns away from all the transgressions which he committed, he shall surely live; he shall not die. ^29 (P)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 (Q)“Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways,” says the Lord God. ^(R)“Repent, and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin.