Surely you will not destroy the good people along with the evil ones; then they would be treated the same. You are the judge of all the earth. Won’t you do what is right?”
The Lord says, “I will punish the world for its evil and wicked people for their sins. I will cause proud people to lose their pride, and I will destroy the pride of those who are cruel to others.
There will never be a baby from that city who lives only a few days. And there will never be an older person who doesn’t have a long life. A person who lives a hundred years will be called young, and a person who dies before he is a hundred will be thought of as a sinner.
I will punish you for your sins and your ancestors’ sins,” says the Lord. “They burned incense to gods on the mountains and shamed me on those hills. So I will punish them as they should be punished for what they did.”
The person who sins is the one who will die. A child will not be punished for a parent’s sin, and a parent will not be punished for a child’s sin. Those who do right will enjoy the results of their own goodness; evil people will suffer the results of their own evil.
“ ‘I, the Lord, have spoken. The time has come for me to act. I will not hold back punishment or feel pity or change my mind. I will judge you by your ways and actions, says the Lord God.’ ”
Suppose I say to the wicked: ‘Wicked people, you will surely die,’ but you don’t speak to warn the wicked to stop doing evil. Then they will die because they were sinners, but I will punish you for their deaths.
because we must all stand before Christ to be judged. Each of us will receive what we should get—good or bad—for the things we did in the earthly body.
So you must show mercy to others, or God will not show mercy to you when he judges you. But the person who shows mercy can stand without fear at the judgment.