If a wicked person repented of his wickedness and pursued righteous behavior, he would live and not die. God would pardon his sins because he had turned from them and practiced righteousness. For the Jews still in Jerusalem this might mean deliverance from death at the hands of Babylon"s invading soldiers. [source][source][source]
This did not mean that doing good works would atone for past sins eternally. It meant that doing good works could preclude God"s judgment of premature physical death, a judgment promised under the Mosaic Law for those who practiced wickedness. This whole chapter deals with the consequences of good and bad conduct in this life under the Mosaic Covenant. It does not deal with the subject of eternal life. Eternal life has always come to a person by faith alone ( Genesis 15:6; Romans 4:5; Ephesians 2:8-9). [source][source][source]
"The stipulations of the Mosaic covenant were given to a people who were already in a trusting relationship with God. These stipulations provided a concrete, practical outworking of faith in the God who redeemed Israel from Egypt and gave the people his law.... If they obeyed these commands, they would show their righteousness, receive God"s blessings, and live. But if they failed to live according to God"s ways as revealed in the law, the Mosaic covenant declared that even those who had believed ... would die physically (cf. Deuteronomy 28:58-66; Deuteronomy 30:15-20)." [1][source]