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.

¹ See my servant, whom I am supporting, my loved one, in whom I take delight: I have put my spirit on him; he will give the knowledge of the true God to the nations.

² He will make no cry, his voice will not be loud: his words will not come to men's ears in the streets.

³ He will not let a crushed stem be quite broken, and he will not let a feebly burning light be put out: he will go on sending out the true word to the peoples.

⁴ His light will not be put out, and he will not be crushed, till he has given the knowledge of the true God to the earth, and the sea-lands will be waiting for his teaching.

⁵ God the Lord, even he who made the heavens, measuring them out on high; stretching out the earth, and giving its produce; he who gives breath to the people on it, and life to those who go about on it, says:

⁶ I the Lord have made you the vessel of my purpose, I have taken you by the hand, and kept you safe, and I have given you to be an agreement to the people, and a light to the nations:

⁷ To give eyes to the blind, to make free the prisoners from the prison, to let out those who are shut up in the dark.

⁸ I am the Lord; that is my name: I will not give my glory to another, or my praise to pictured images.

⁹ See, the things said before have come about, and now I give word of new things: before they come I give you news of them.

¹⁰ Make a new song to the Lord, and let his praise be sounded from the end of the earth; you who go down to the sea, and everything in it, the sea-lands and their people.

¹¹ Let the waste land and its flocks be glad, the tent-circles of Kedar; let the people of the rock give a glad cry, from the top of the mountains let them make a sound of joy.

¹² Let them give glory to the Lord, sounding his praise in the sea-lands.

¹³ The Lord will go out as a man of war, he will be moved to wrath like a fighting-man: his voice will be strong, he will give a loud cry; he will go against his attackers like a man of war.

¹⁴ I have long been quiet, I have kept myself in and done nothing: now I will make sounds of pain like a woman in childbirth, breathing hard and quickly.

¹⁵ I will make waste mountains and hills, drying up all their plants; and I will make rivers dry, and pools dry land.

¹⁶ And I will take the blind by a way of which they had no knowledge, guiding them by roads strange to them: I will make the dark places light before them, and the rough places level. These things will I do and will not give them up.

¹⁷ They will be turned back and be greatly shamed who put their hope in pictured images, who say to metal images, You are our gods.

¹⁸ Give ear, you whose ears are shut; and let your eyes be open, you blind, so that you may see.

¹⁹ Who is blind, but my servant? who has his ears stopped, but he whom I send? who is blind as my true one, or who has his ears shut like the Lord's servant?

²⁰ Seeing much, but keeping nothing in mind; his ears are open, but there is no hearing.

²¹ It was the Lord's pleasure, because of his righteousness, to make the teaching great and give it honour.

²² But this is a people whose property has been taken away from them by force; they are all taken in holes, and shut up in prisons: they are made prisoners, and no one makes them free; they are taken by force and no one says, Give them back.

²³ Who is there among you who will give ear to this? who will give attention to it for the time to come?

²⁴ Who gave up Jacob to those who took away his goods, and Israel to his attackers? Did not the Lord? he against whom they did wrong, and in whose ways they would not go, turning away from his teaching.

²⁵ For this reason he let loose on him the heat of his wrath, and his strength was like a flame; and it put fire round about him, but he did not see it; he was burned, but did not take it to heart.