³¹ Since the Lord, your God, is a merciful God, he will not abandon or destroy you, nor forget the covenant with your ancestors that he swore to them.^(A)

^9 [a]you shall not bow down before them or serve them. For I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous^[b] God, bringing punishment for their parents’ wickedness on the children of those who hate me, down to the third and fourth generation, ¹⁰ but showing love down to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.

Individual Responsibility. ¹⁶ Parents shall not be put to death for their children, nor shall children be put to death for their parents; only for one’s own crime shall a person be put to death.^(A)

⁵ you shall not bow down before them or serve them.^(A) For I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous God, inflicting punishment for their ancestors’ wickedness on the children of those who hate me, down to the third and fourth generation^[a]; ⁶ but showing love down to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.

⁶ So the Lord passed before him and proclaimed: The Lord, the Lord, a God gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in love and fidelity,^{[a] 7} continuing his love for a thousand generations, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion, and sin; yet not declaring the guilty guiltless, but bringing punishment for their parents’ wickedness on children and children’s children to the third and fourth generation!^(A)

^18 (A)‘The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in kindness, forgiving iniquity and rebellion; yet certainly not declaring the guilty guiltless, but punishing children to the third and fourth generation for their parents’ iniquity.’

²⁹ In those days they shall no longer say,

³⁰ but all shall die because of their own iniquity: the teeth of anyone who eats unripe grapes shall be set on edge.

The New Covenant.^[b]

¹⁸ You continue your kindness through a thousand generations; but you repay the ancestors’ guilt upon their children who follow them. Great and mighty God, whose name is Lord of hosts,^{(A) 19} great in counsel, mighty in deed, whose eyes are fixed on all the ways of mortals, giving to all according to their ways, according to the fruit of their deeds:^(B)

Chapter 18

Personal Responsibility. ¹ The word of the Lord came to me: Son of man, ² what is the meaning of this proverb you recite in the land of Israel:

³ As I live—oracle of the Lord God: I swear that none of you will ever repeat this proverb in Israel. ⁴ For all life is mine: the life of the parent is like the life of the child, both are mine. Only the one who sins shall die!

⁵ If a man is just—if he does what is right, ⁶ if he does not eat on the mountains,^[b] or raise his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel; if he does not defile a neighbor’s wife, or have relations with a woman during her period;^{(B) 7 (C)}if he oppresses no one, gives back the pledge received for a debt, commits no robbery; gives food to the hungry and clothes the naked; ⁸ if he does not lend at interest or exact usury; if he refrains from evildoing and makes a fair judgment between two opponents;^{(D) 9} if he walks by my statutes and is careful to observe my ordinances, that man is just—he shall surely live—oracle of the Lord God.^(E)

¹⁰ But if he begets a son who is violent and commits murder, or does any of these things,^{(F) 11} even though the father does none of them—a son who eats on the mountains, defiles the wife of his neighbor, ¹² oppresses the poor and needy, commits robbery, does not give back a pledge, raises his eyes to idols, does abominable things, ¹³ lends at interest and exacts usury—this son certainly shall not live. Because he practiced all these abominations, he shall surely be put to death; his own blood shall be on him.^(G)

¹⁴ But, in turn, if he begets a son who sees all the sins his father commits, yet fears and does not imitate him— ¹⁵ a son who does not eat on the mountains, or raise his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, or defile a neighbor’s wife; ¹⁶ who does not oppress anyone, or exact a pledge, or commit robbery; who gives his food to the hungry and clothes the naked;^{(H) 17} who refrains from evildoing, accepts no interest or usury, but keeps my ordinances and walks in my statutes—this one shall not die for the sins of his father. He shall surely live! ¹⁸ Only the father, since he committed extortion and robbed his brother, and did what was not good among his people—he will die because of his sin! ¹⁹ You ask: “Why is not the son charged with the guilt of his father?” Because the son has done what is just and right and has been careful to observe all my statutes—he shall surely live! ^20 (I)Only the one who sins shall die. The son shall not be charged with the guilt of his father, nor shall the father be charged with the guilt of his son. Justice belongs to the just, and wickedness to the wicked.

²¹ But if the wicked man turns away from all the sins he has committed, if he keeps all my statutes and does what is just and right, he shall surely live. He shall not die! ²² None of the crimes he has committed shall be remembered against him; he shall live because of the justice he has shown. ^23 (J)Do I find pleasure in the death of the wicked—oracle of the Lord God? Do I not rejoice when they turn from their evil way and live?

²⁴ And if the just turn from justice and do evil, like all the abominations the wicked do, can they do this evil and still live? None of the justice they did shall be remembered, because they acted treacherously and committed these sins; because of this, they shall die.^(K)