¹ Moreover the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,

² You, son of man, will you judge, will you judge the bloody city? then cause her to know all her abominations.

³ You shall say, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: A city that sheds blood in the midst of her, that her time may come, and that makes idols against herself to defile her!

⁴ You have become guilty in your blood that you have shed, and are defiled in your idols which you have made; and you have caused your days to draw near, and are come even to your years: therefore have I made you a reproach to the nations, and a mocking to all the countries.

⁵ Those who are near, and those who are far from you, shall mock you, you infamous one [and] full of tumult.

⁶ Behold, the princes of Israel, everyone according to his power, have been in you to shed blood.

⁷ In you have they set light by father and mother; in the midst of you have they dealt by oppression with the foreigner; in you have they wronged the fatherless and the widow.

⁸ You have despised my holy things, and have profaned my Sabbaths.

⁹ Slanderous men have been in you to shed blood; and in you they have eaten on the mountains: in the midst of you they have committed lewdness.

¹⁰ In you have they uncovered their fathers' nakedness; in you have they humbled her who was unclean in her impurity.

¹¹ One has committed abomination with his neighbor's wife; and another has lewdly defiled his daughter-in-law; and another in you has humbled his sister, his father's daughter.

¹² In you have they taken bribes to shed blood; you have taken interest and increase, and you have greedily gained of your neighbors by oppression, and have forgotten me, says the Lord Yahweh.

¹³ Behold, therefore, I have struck my hand at your dishonest gain which you have made, and at your blood which has been in the midst of you.

¹⁴ Can your heart endure, or can your hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with you? I, Yahweh, have spoken it, and will do it.

¹⁵ I will scatter you among the nations, and disperse you through the countries; and I will consume your filthiness out of you.

¹⁶ You shall be profaned in yourself, in the sight of the nations; and you shall know that I am Yahweh.

¹⁷ The word of Yahweh came to me, saying,

¹⁸ Son of man, the house of Israel is become dross to me: all of them are brass and tin and iron and lead, in the midst of the furnace; they are the dross of silver.

¹⁹ Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: Because you have all become dross, therefore, behold, I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem.

²⁰ As they gather silver and brass and iron and lead and tin into the midst of the furnace, to blow the fire on it, to melt it; so will I gather you in my anger and in my wrath, and I will lay you there, and melt you.

²¹ Yes, I will gather you, and blow on you with the fire of my wrath, and you shall be melted in its midst.

²² As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so you will be melted in its midst; and you will know that I, Yahweh, have poured out my wrath on you.

²³ The word of Yahweh came to me, saying,

²⁴ Son of man, tell her, You are a land that is not cleansed, nor rained on in the day of indignation.

²⁵ There is a conspiracy of her prophets in its midst, like a roaring lion ravening the prey: they have devoured souls; they take treasure and precious things; they have made her widows many in its midst.

²⁶ Her priests have done violence to my law, and have profaned my holy things: they have made no distinction between the holy and the common, neither have they caused men to discern between the unclean and the clean, and have hidden their eyes from my Sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.

²⁷ Her princes in its midst are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, [and] to destroy souls, that they may get dishonest gain.

²⁸ Her prophets have plastered for them with whitewash, seeing false visions, and divining lies to them, saying, Thus says the Lord Yahweh, when Yahweh has not spoken.

²⁹ The people of the land have used oppression, and exercised robbery; yes, they have troubled the poor and needy, and have oppressed the foreigner wrongfully.

³⁰ I sought for a man among them, who should build up the wall, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found none.

³¹ Therefore have I poured out my indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath: their own way have I brought on their heads, says the Lord Yahweh.

¹ The word of Yahweh came to me again, saying,

² What do you mean, that you use 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 Yahweh, you shall not have [occasion] any more to use this proverb in Israel.

⁴ Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul who sins, he shall die.

⁵ But if a man is just, and does that which is lawful and right,

⁶ and has not eaten on the mountains, neither has lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, neither has defiled his neighbor's wife, neither has come near to a woman in her impurity,

⁷ and has not wronged any, but has restored to the debtor his pledge, has taken nothing by robbery, has given his bread to the hungry, and has covered the naked with a garment;

⁸ he who has not given forth on interest, neither has taken any increase, who has withdrawn his hand from iniquity, has executed true justice between man and man,

⁹ has walked in my statutes, and has kept my ordinances, to deal truly; he is just, he shall surely live, says the Lord Yahweh.

¹⁰ If he fathers a son who is a robber, a shedder of blood, and who does any one of these things,

¹¹ and who does not any of those [duties], but even has eaten on the mountains, and defiled his neighbor's wife,

¹² has wronged the poor and needy, has taken by robbery, has not restored the pledge, and has lifted up his eyes to the idols, has committed abomination,

¹³ has given forth on interest, and has taken increase; shall he then live? he shall not live: he has done all these abominations; he shall surely die; his blood shall be on him.

¹⁴ Now, behold, if he fathers a son, who sees all his father's sins, which he has done, and fears, and does not such like;

¹⁵ who has not eaten on the mountains, neither has lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, has not defiled his neighbor's wife,

¹⁶ neither has wronged any, has not taken anything to pledge, neither has taken by robbery, but has given his bread to the hungry, and has covered the naked with a garment;

¹⁷ who has withdrawn his hand from the poor, who has not received interest nor increase, has executed my ordinances, has walked in my statutes; he shall not die for the iniquity of his father, he shall surely live.

¹⁸ As for his father, because he cruelly oppressed, robbed his brother, and did that which is not good among his people, behold, he shall die in his iniquity.

¹⁹ Yet you say, Why doesn't the son bear the iniquity of the father? When the son has done that which is lawful and right, and has kept all my statutes, and has done them, he shall surely live.

²⁰ The soul who sins, he shall die: the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son; the righteousness of the righteous shall be on him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be on him.

²¹ But if the wicked turn from all his sins that he has committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die.

²² None of his transgressions that he has committed shall be remembered against him: in his righteousness that he has done he shall live.

²³ Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked? says the Lord Yahweh; and not rather that he should return from his way, and live?

²⁴ But when the righteous turns away from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, and does according to all the abominations that the wicked man does, shall he live? None of his righteous deeds that he has done shall be remembered: in his trespass that he has trespassed, and in his sin that he has sinned, in them shall he die.

²⁵ Yet you say, The way of the Lord is not equal. Hear now, house of Israel: Is my way not equal? Aren't your ways unequal?

²⁶ When the righteous man turns away from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, and dies therein; in his iniquity that he has done shall he die.

²⁷ Again, when the wicked man 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, he shall not die.

²⁹ Yet says the house of Israel, The way of the Lord is not equal. house of Israel, are not my ways equal? Aren't your ways unequal?

³⁰ Therefore I will judge you, house of Israel, everyone according to his ways, says the Lord Yahweh. Return, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.

³¹ Cast away from you all your transgressions, in which you have transgressed; and make yourself a new heart and a new spirit: for why will you die, house of Israel?

³² For I have no pleasure in the death of him who dies, says the Lord Yahweh: therefore turn yourselves, and live.