However, if you warn the righteous person not to sin, and he ¹  does not sin, he will certainly live because he was warned, and you will have saved your own life.”

“Suppose a man is righteous. He practices what is just and right,

When a righteous man turns from his godliness and commits iniquity, he will die for it.

When a righteous person turns back from his righteousness and practices wrongdoing, he will die for it; ¹  because of the wrongdoing he has done, he will die.

“And you, son of man, say to your people, ¹  ‘The righteousness of the righteous will not deliver him if he rebels. ²  As for the wicked, his wickedness will not make him stumble if he turns from it. ³  The righteous will not be able to live by his righteousness ⁴  if he sins.’ ⁵ 

This is because you have disheartened the righteous person with lies (although I have not grieved him), and because you have encouraged the wicked person not to turn from his evil conduct and preserve his life.

and follows my statutes and observes my regulations by carrying them out. ¹  That man ²  is righteous; he will certainly live, ³  declares the sovereign Lord.

and say to them, ¹  ‘This is what the Lord says: Look, ²  I am against you. ³  I will draw my sword ⁴  from its sheath and cut off from you both the righteous and the wicked. ⁵ 

Because I will cut off from you both the righteous and the wicked, my sword will go out from its sheath against everyone ¹  from the south ²  to the north.

But upright men will punish them appropriately for their adultery and bloodshed, ¹  because they are adulteresses and blood is on their hands.

“When a righteous person turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I set an obstacle ¹  before him, he will die. If you have not warned him, he will die for his sin. The righteous deeds he performed will not be considered, but I will hold you accountable for his death.

The person who sins is the one who will die. A son will not suffer ¹  for his father’s iniquity, and a father will not suffer ²  for his son’s iniquity; the righteous person will be judged according to his righteousness, and the wicked person according to his wickedness. ³ 

“But if a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and practices wrongdoing according to all the abominable practices the wicked carry out, will he live? All his righteous acts will not be remembered; because of the unfaithful acts he has done and the sin he has committed, he will die. ¹ 

Suppose 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.