I will multiply the fruit of the trees and the produce of the fields, so that you will never again suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations.

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 

“Yet you say, ‘Why should the son not suffer ¹  for his father’s iniquity?’ When the son does what is just and right, and observes all my statutes and carries them out, he will surely live.

My eye will not pity you; I will not spare ¹  you. ²  For I will hold you responsible for your behavior, ³  and you will suffer the consequences of your abominable practices. ⁴  Then you will know that I am the Lord!

“‘No longer will Israel suffer from the sharp briers ¹  or painful thorns of all who surround and scorn them. ²  Then they will know that I am the sovereign Lord.

My eye will not pity you; I will not spare ¹  you. For your behavior I will hold you accountable, ²  and you will suffer the consequences of your abominable practices. Then you will know that it is I, the Lord, who is striking you. ³ 

So this is what the sovereign Lord says: I vow ¹  that the nations around you will endure insults as well.

They will repay you for your obscene conduct, and you will be punished for idol worship. ¹  Then you will know that I am the sovereign Lord.”

“Therefore prophesy concerning the land of Israel, and say to the mountains and hills, the ravines and valleys, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Look, I have spoken in my zeal and in my anger, because you have endured the insults of the nations.

They have treated father and mother with contempt ¹  within you; they have oppressed the foreigner among you; they have wronged the orphan and the widow ²  within you.

I will prepare for them a healthy ¹  planting. They will no longer be victims ²  of famine in the land and will no longer bear the insults of the nations.

I will no longer subject you to ¹  the nations’ insults; no longer will you bear the shame of the peoples, and no longer will you bereave ²  your nation, declares the sovereign Lord.’”

“‘They must not shave their heads ¹  nor let their hair grow long; ²  they must only trim their heads.

“‘See here – this was the iniquity ¹  of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters had majesty, abundance of food, and enjoyed carefree ease, but they did not help ²  the poor and needy.

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.

“‘You have shown unrelenting hostility and poured the people of Israel onto the blades of a sword ¹  at the time of their calamity, at the time of their final punishment.