The Israelites seem to have taken on more personal responsibility for their sufferings than they had earlier (cf. ch18). They wondered how they could survive God"s judgments. This is the first indication in the book that they were conscious of their own sins. The Lord affirmed again that He took no pleasure in putting people to death for their sins (cf. Ezekiel 18:23; Ezekiel 18:32). He much preferred for them to turn from their sin and live (cf. 2 Peter 3:9). He also appealed again to the people to do just that: to repent of their wicked ways and live (cf. Ezekiel 18:30-31). [source][source][source]
"We must correctly distinguish regret, remorse, and true repentance. Regret is an activity of the mind; whenever we remember what we"ve done, we ask ourselves, "Why did I do that?" Remorse includes both the heart and the mind, and we feel disgust and pain, but we don"t change our ways. But true repentance includes the mind, the heart, and the will. We change our mind about our sins and agree with what God says about them; we abhor ourselves because of what we have done; and we deliberately turn from our sin and turn to the Lord for His mercy. [source][source][source]
"When Peter remembered his sin of denying Christ, he repented and sought pardon; when Judas remembered his sin of betraying Christ, he experienced only remorse, and he went out and hanged himself." [1][source]