^33:11Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but prefer that the wicked change his behavior¹⁶ and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil deeds!¹⁷ Why should you die, O house of Israel?’

^33:12“And you, son of man, say to your people,¹⁸ ‘The righteousness of the righteous will not deliver him if he rebels.¹⁹ As for the wicked, his wickedness will not make him stumble if he turns from it.²⁰ The righteous will not be able to live by his righteousness²¹ if he sins.’²²^33:13Suppose I tell the righteous that he will certainly live, but he becomes confident in his righteousness and commits iniquity. None of his righteous deeds will be remembered; because of the iniquity he has committed he will die. ^33:14Suppose I say to the wicked, ‘You must certainly die,’ but he turns from his sin and does what is just and right. ^33:15He²³ returns what was taken in pledge, pays back what he has stolen, and follows the statutes that give life,²⁴ committing no iniquity. He will certainly live—he will not die. ^33:16None of the sins he has committed will be counted²⁵ against him. He has done what is just and right; he will certainly live.

^33:17“Yet your people²⁶ say, ‘The behavior²⁷ of the Lord is not right,’²⁸ when it is their behavior that is not right. ^33:18When a righteous man turns from his godliness and commits iniquity, he will die for it. ^33:19When the wicked turns from his sin and does what is just and right, he will live because of it. ^33:20Yet you say, ‘The behavior of the Lord is not right.’ House of Israel, I will judge each of you according to his behavior.”²⁹

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Footnotes

16 Heb “turn from his way.”
17 Heb “ways.” This same word is translated “behavior” earlier in the verse.
18 Heb “the sons of your people.”
19 Heb “in the day of his rebellion.” The statement envisions a godly person rejecting what is good and becoming sinful. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (), 2:.
20 Heb “and the wickedness of the wicked, he will not stumble in it in the day of his turning from his wickedness.”
21 Heb “by it.”
22 Heb “in the day of his sin.”
23 Heb “the wicked one.”
24 Heb “and in the statutes of life he walks.”
25 Heb “remembered.”
26 Heb “the sons of your people.”
27 Heb “way.”
28 The Hebrew verb translated “is (not) right” has the basic meaning of “to measure.” For a similar concept, see Ezek 18:25, 29.
29 Heb “ways.”