“ But you still ask,‘ Is the son guilty along with his father?’ No! The son did what was fair and right. He was careful to obey all my rules. So you can be sure he will live.

“你们还说：‘儿子为何不担当父亲的罪孽呢？’儿子行正直与合理的事，谨守遵行我的一切律例，他必定存活。

“你们还说：‘儿子为什么不担当父亲的罪孽呢？’儿子若行公平公义的事，谨守遵行我一切的律例，他必要存活。

“你们还说：‘儿子为什么不担当父亲的罪孽呢？’儿子若行公平公义的事，谨守遵行我一切的律例，他必要存活。

“你们会问，‘儿子为什么不用承担父亲的罪恶呢？’这是因为儿子秉公行义，谨遵我的律例，所以他必活着。

“你们还问：‘儿子为什么不担当父亲的罪孽呢？’儿子若行正直和公义的事，谨守遵行我的一切律例，就必存活。

「你們還說：『兒子為何不擔當父親的罪孽呢？』兒子行正直與合理的事，謹守遵行我的一切律例，他必定存活。

「你們還說：『兒子為甚麼不擔當父親的罪孽呢？』兒子若行公平公義的事，謹守遵行我一切的律例，他必要存活。

「你們還說：『兒子為甚麼不擔當父親的罪孽呢？』兒子若行公平公義的事，謹守遵行我一切的律例，他必要存活。

「你們會問，『兒子為什麼不用承擔父親的罪惡呢？』這是因為兒子秉公行義，謹遵我的律例，所以他必活著。

“你們還問：‘兒子為甚麼不擔當父親的罪孽呢？’兒子若行正直和公義的事，謹守遵行我的一切律例，就必存活。

『你們還說：「兒子為甚麼不擔當父親的罪罰呢？」兒子行公平正義的事，謹守我的一切律例而實行它，他一定活着。

爾曹猶曰、子不負父罪、曷故子若循法合理、守我典章、而遵行之、必得生存、

爾曹曰、子負父罪曷故、如人子為義、守我法度則可保生、

爾曹猶問曰、子何不負父之罪耶、但子為義行善、謹守遵行我諸律例、自得生存、

“ Yet you ask,‘ Why does the son not share the guilt of his father?’ Since the son has done what is just and right and has been careful to keep all my decrees, he will surely live.

“ Yet you say,‘ Why should not the son suffer for the iniquity of the father?’ When the son has done what is just and right, and has been careful to observe all my statutes, he shall surely live.

“‘ What?’ you ask.‘ Doesn’t the child pay for the parent’s sins?’ No! For if the child does what is just and right and keeps my decrees, that child will surely live.

But you may ask,‘ Why doesn’t the son suffer punishment for the father’s iniquity?’ Since the son has done what is just and right, carefully observing all my statutes, he will certainly live.

“ 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.

“ Yet you say,‘ Why should the son not bear the guilt of the father?’ Because the son has done what is lawful and right, and has kept all My statutes and observed them, he shall surely live.

Yet say ye, Wherefore doth not the son bear the iniquity of the father? When the son hath done that which is lawful and right, and hath kept all my statutes, and hath done them, he shall surely live.

But you may ask,‘ Why doesn’t the son suffer punishment for the father’s iniquity?’ Since the son has done what is just and right, carefully observing all My statutes, he will certainly live.

Yet say ye, Why? doth not the son bear the iniquity of the father? When the son hath done that which is lawful and right,[ and] hath kept all my statutes, and hath done them, he shall surely live.

“ Yet you say,‘ Why should the son not suffer 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.

“ Yet you say,‘ Why doesn’t the son bear the iniquity of the father?’ When the son has done that which is lawful and right, and has kept all my statutes, and has done them, he will surely live.

Do not bow down to them or worship them. I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God. I cause the sins of the parents to affect their children. I will cause the sins of those who hate me to affect even their grandchildren and great- grandchildren.

I will make all the kingdoms on earth hate them. That will happen because of what Manasseh did in Jerusalem. He was king of Judah and the son of Hezekiah.

And now he says to us,“ Return to me. Then I will return to you,” announces the Lord.“ Do not be like your people of long ago. The earlier prophets gave them my message. I said,‘ Stop doing what is evil. Turn away from your sinful practices.’ But they would not listen to me. They would not pay any attention,” announces the Lord.“ Where are those people now? And what about my prophets? Do they live forever?I commanded my servants the prophets what to say. I told them what I planned to do. But your people refused to obey me. So I had to punish them.“ Then they had a change of heart. They said,‘ The Lord who rules over all has punished us because of how we have lived. He was fair and right to do that. He has done to us just what he decided to do.’ ”

Do not bow down to them or worship them. I am the Lord your God. I want you to worship only me. I cause the sins of the parents to affect their children. I will cause the sins of those who hate me to affect even their grandchildren and great- grandchildren.

I spoke to their children there. I said,‘ Do not follow the rules your parents gave you. Do not obey their laws. Do not make yourselves“ unclean” by worshiping their gods.I am the Lord your God. So follow my rules. Be careful to obey my laws.Keep my Sabbath days holy. That is the sign of the covenant I made with you. You will know that I am the Lord your God.’

They had not obeyed my laws. They had turned their backs on my rules. They had misused my Sabbath days. They only wanted to worship the statues of their parents’ gods.

The Lord said to me,“ Speak to the Israelites. Tell them,‘ Here is what the Lord and King says.“ Are you going to make yourselves‘ unclean’ the way your people of long ago did? Are you also going to want to worship the statues of their evil gods?

He obeys my rules. He is faithful in keeping my laws. He always does what is right. You can be sure he will live,” announces the Lord and King.

Our people of long ago sinned. And they are now dead. We are being punished because of their sins.

These things happened to Judah in keeping with what the Lord had commanded. He brought enemies against his people in order to remove them from his land. He removed them because of all the sins Manasseh had committed.Manasseh had spilled the blood of many people who weren’t guilty of doing anything wrong. In fact, he spilled so much of their blood that he filled Jerusalem with it. So the Lord refused to forgive him.

“ You people have a proverb about the land of Israel. What do you mean by it? It says,“‘ The parents eat sour grapes. But the children have a bitter taste in their mouths.’

In spite of that, the Lord didn’t turn away from his great anger against Judah. That’s because of everything Manasseh had done to make him very angry.