¹ And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

² And you, son of man, say, This is what the Lord has said to the land of Israel: An end has come, the end has come on the four quarters of the land.

³ Now the end has come on you, and I will send my wrath on you, judging you for your ways, I will send punishment on you for all your disgusting acts.

⁴ My eye will not have mercy on you, and I will have no pity: but I will send the punishment of your ways on you, and your disgusting works will be among you: and you will be certain that I am the Lord.

⁵ This is what the Lord has said: An evil, even one evil; see, it is coming.

⁶ An end has come, the end has come; see, it is coming on you.

⁷ The crowning time has come on you, O people of the land: the time has come, the day is near; the day will not be slow in coming, it will not keep back.

⁸ Now, in a little time, I will let loose my passion on you, and give full effect to my wrath against you, judging you for your ways, and sending punishment on you for all your disgusting works.

⁹ My eye will not have mercy, and I will have no pity: I will send on you the punishment of your ways, and your disgusting works will be among you; and you will see that I am the Lord who gives punishment.

¹⁰ See, the day; see, it is coming: the crowning time has gone out; the twisted way is flowering, pride has put out buds.

¹¹ Violent behaviour has been lifted up into a rod of evil; it will not be slow in coming, it will not keep back.

¹² The time has come, the day is near: let not him who gives a price for goods be glad, or him who gets the price have sorrow:

¹³ For the trader will not go back to the things for which he had his price, even while he is still living:

¹⁴ And he who has given a price for goods will not get them, for my wrath is on all of them.

¹⁵ Outside is the sword, and inside disease and need of food: he who is in the open country will be put to the sword; he who is in the town will come to his end through need of food and disease.

¹⁶ And those of them who get away safely will go and be in the secret places like the doves of the valleys, all of them will come to death, every one in his sin.

¹⁷ All hands will be feeble and all knees without strength, like water.

¹⁸ And they will put haircloth round them, and deep fear will be covering them; and shame will be on all faces, and the hair gone from all their heads.

¹⁹ They will put out their silver into the streets, and their gold will be as an unclean thing; their silver and their gold will not be able to keep them safe in the day of the wrath of the Lord; they will not get their desire or have food for their need: because it has been the cause of their falling into sin.

²⁰ As for their beautiful ornament, they had put it on high, and had made the images of their disgusting and hated things in it: for this cause I have made it an unclean thing to them.

²¹ And I will give it into the hands of men from strange lands who will take it by force, and to the evil-doers of the earth to have for themselves; and they will make it unholy.

²² And my face will be turned away from them, and they will make my secret place unholy: violent men will go into it and make it unholy.

²³ Make the chain: for the land is full of crimes of blood, and the town is full of violent acts.

²⁴ For this reason I will send the worst of the nations and they will take their houses for themselves: I will make the pride of their strength come to an end; and their holy places will be made unclean.

²⁵ Shaking fear is coming; and they will be looking for peace, and there will be no peace.

²⁶ Destruction will come on destruction, and one story after another; and the vision of the prophet will be shamed, and knowledge of the law will come to an end among the priests, and wisdom among the old.

²⁷ The king will give himself up to sorrow, and the ruler will be clothed with wonder, and the hands of the people of the land will be troubled: I will give them punishment for their ways, judging them as it is right for them to be judged; and they will be certain that I am the Lord.

¹ The word of the Lord came to me again, saying,

² Why do you make use of this saying about the land of Israel, The fathers have been tasting bitter grapes and the children's teeth are on edge?

³ By my life, says the Lord, you will no longer have this saying in Israel.

⁴ See, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so the soul of the son is mine: death will be the fate of the sinner's soul.

⁵ But if a man is upright, living rightly and doing righteousness,

⁶ And has not taken flesh with the blood for food, or given worship to the images of the children of Israel; if he has not had connection with his neighbour's wife, or come near to a woman at the time when she is unclean;

⁷ And has done no wrong to any, but has given back to the debtor what is his, and has taken no one's goods by force, and has given food to him who was in need of it, and clothing to him who was without it;

⁸ And has not given his money out at interest or taken great profits, and, turning his hand from evil-doing, has kept faith between man and man,

⁹ And has been guided by my rules and has kept my laws and done them: he is upright, life will certainly be his, says the Lord.

¹⁰ If he has a son who is a thief, a taker of life, who does any of these things,

¹¹ Who has taken flesh with the blood as food, and has had connection with his neighbour's wife,

¹² Has done wrong to the poor and to him who is in need, and taken property by force, and has not given back to one in his debt what is his, and has given worship to images and has done disgusting things,

¹³ And has given out his money at interest and taken great profits: he will certainly not go on living: he has done all these disgusting things: death will certainly be his fate; his blood will be on him.

¹⁴ Now if he has a son who sees all his father's sins which he has done, and in fear does not do the same:

¹⁵ Who has not taken the flesh with the blood for food, or given worship to the images of the children of Israel, and has not had connection with his neighbour's wife,

¹⁶ Or done wrong to any, or taken anything from one in his debt, or taken goods by force, but has given food to him who was in need of it, and clothing to him who was without it;

¹⁷ Who has kept his hand from evil-doing and has not taken interest or great profits, who has done my orders and been guided by my rules: he will certainly not be put to death for the evil-doing of his father; life will certainly be his.

¹⁸ As for his father, because he was cruel, took goods by force, and did what is not good among his people, truly, death will overtake him in his evil-doing.

¹⁹ But you say, Why does not the son undergo punishment for the evil-doing of the father? When the son has done what is ordered and right, and has kept my rules and done them, life will certainly be his.

²⁰ The soul which does sin will be put to death: the son will not be made responsible for the evil-doing of the father, or the father for the evil-doing of the son; the righteousness of the upright will be on himself, and the evil-doing of the evil-doer on himself.

²¹ But if the evil-doer, turning away from all the sins which he has done, keeps my rules and does what is ordered and right, life will certainly be his; death will not be his fate.

²² Not one of the sins which he has done will be kept in memory against him: in the righteousness which he has done he will have life.

²³ Have I any pleasure in the death of the evil-doer? says the Lord: am I not pleased if he is turned from his way so that he may have life?

²⁴ But when the upright man, turning away from his righteousness, does evil, like all the disgusting things which the evil man does, will he have life? Not one of his upright acts will be kept in memory: in the wrong which he has done and in his sin death will overtake him.

²⁵ But you say, The way of the Lord is not equal. Give ear, now, O children of Israel; is my way not equal? are not your ways unequal?

²⁶ When the upright man, turning away from his righteousness, does evil, death will overtake him; in the evil which he has done death will overtake him.

²⁷ Again, when the evil-doer, turning away from the evil he has done, does what is ordered and right, he will have life for his soul.

²⁸ Because he had fear and was turned away from all the wrong which he had done, life will certainly be his, death will not be his fate.

²⁹ But still the children of Israel say, The way of the Lord is not equal. O children of Israel, are my ways not equal? are not your ways unequal?

³⁰ For this cause I will be your judge, O children of Israel, judging every man by his ways, says the Lord. Come back and be turned from all your sins; so that they may not be the cause of your falling into evil.

³¹ Put away all your evil-doing in which you have done sin; and make for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit: why are you desiring death, O children of Israel?

³² For I have no pleasure in the death of him on whom death comes, says the Lord: be turned back then, and have life.