But when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity means a good person stops doing good and starts sinning. See the comments on 3.20. For the Hebrew word rendered iniquity, which differs from the one used in verses 19-20, see the comments on Ezek 18.8.

And does the same abominable things that the wicked man does: See verses 12 and 13.

Shall he live?: Translators may express this rhetorical question as a statement by saying “If they do this, they will not live.” New Living Translation has “should they be allowed to live? No, of course not!” (similarly Good News Translation, Revised English Bible, Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). God gives the answer in the last half of this verse, so most translations retain the rhetorical question without causing their readers to misunderstand it.

None of the righteous deeds which he has done shall be remembered: The verb remembered is used in the same sense as in verse 22. None of the good things that sinful people did in the past will count when the time comes for God to judge them. Their judgment will depend entirely on the sins they do later in their lives. This sentence may be rendered “When I judge those people, I will not allow the good things they did before to count in their favor [or, I will not take into account the good things they did before].”

For the treachery of which he is guilty and the sin he has committed, he shall die: The treachery of which he is guilty is literally “his unfaithfulness that he has acted unfaithfully” (see 17.20), which may be rendered “they are guilty of being unfaithful to me.”

Quoted with permission from Gross, Carl & Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Ezekiel. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .