Study Desk

he keeps his hand from the poor, does not take any kind of interest on loans, but executes My ordinances, and walks in My statutes; he will not die for his father's guilt, he will certainly live.

"As for his father, because he practiced extortion, robbed his brother, and did what was not good among his people, behold, he will die for his guilt.

"Yet you say, 'Why should the son not suffer the punishment for the father's guilt?' When the son has practiced justice and righteousness and has kept all My statutes and done them, he shall certainly live.

"The person who sins will die. A son will not suffer the punishment for the father's guilt, nor will a father suffer the punishment for the son's guilt; the righteousness of the righteous will be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked will be upon himself.

"But when a righteous person turns away from his righteousness, commits injustice and does according to all the abominations that the wicked person does, will he live? All his righteous deeds which he has done will not be remembered for his treachery which he has committed and his sin which he has committed; for them he will die.

"When a righteous person turns away from his righteousness, commits injustice and dies because of it, for his injustice which he has committed he dies.

"Hurl away from you all your offenses which you have committed and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! For why should you die, house of Israel?

"For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies," declares the Lord GOD. "Therefore, repent and live!"

"As for you, take up a song of mourning for the leaders of Israel

'And it had strong stems fit for scepters of rulers, And its height was raised above the clouds So that it was seen in its height with the mass of its branches.

on that day I swore to them, to bring them out from the land of Egypt into a land that I had selected for them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all the lands.

"But I acted for the sake of My name, that it would not be defiled in the sight of the nations among whom they lived, in whose sight I made Myself known to them by bringing them out of the land of Egypt.

"But I acted for the sake of My name, so that it would not be defiled before the eyes of the nations, before whose eyes I had brought them out.

because they rejected My ordinances, and as for My statutes, they did not walk in them; they also profaned My Sabbaths, because their heart continually followed their idols.

"But I withdrew My hand and acted for the sake of My name, so that it would not be defiled in the sight of the nations in whose sight I had brought them out.

"As for you, house of Israel," this is what the Lord GOD says: "Go, serve, everyone of you his idols; but later you will certainly listen to Me, and My holy name you will no longer defile with your gifts and your idols.

"For on My holy mountain, on the high mountain of Israel," declares the Lord GOD, "there the entire house of Israel, all of them, will serve Me in the land; there I will accept them and there I will demand your contributions and the choicest of your gifts, with all your holy things.

"And there you will remember your ways and all your deeds by which you have defiled yourselves; and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight for all the evil things that you have done.

"As for you, son of man, groan with a breaking heart and bitter grief; you shall groan in their sight.

"And when they say to you, 'Why are you groaning?' you shall say, 'Because of the news, for it is coming; and every heart will melt, all hands will go limp, every spirit will be disheartened, and all knees will drip with water. Behold, it is coming and it will happen,' declares the Lord GOD."