Ezekiel 18

The word of the LORD came to me again. He said:

1The word of the LORD came unto me again, saying,

Note"The word of the LORD came to me" is the standard opening formula for a prophetic message; it marks the start of a new unit rather than describing how the message arrived. Note also the printing convention: "LORD" in capitals stands for the personal name of Israel's God (the four Hebrew letters YHWH), while "Lord GOD" later in the chapter renders a double title, roughly "my Master YHWH."

2Why do you people keep repeating this saying about the land of Israel: "The fathers ate sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge"?

2What mean ye, that ye use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge?

NoteEzekiel spoke to Judeans deported to Babylon after Jerusalem's first surrender in 597 BC. The saying they were repeating (a popular proverb, also quoted at Jeremiah 31:29) meant that one generation eats the sour fruit and a later generation suffers the consequences: we are being punished for what our ancestors did. "Teeth set on edge" describes the rough, blunted feeling in the teeth after eating something sharply acidic.

3As surely as I live, says the Lord GOD, you will not have reason to repeat this saying in Israel anymore.

3As I live, saith the Lord GOD, ye shall not have occasion any more to use this proverb in Israel.

Note"As surely as I live" is an oath formula, the strongest form of promise in Hebrew: the speaker stakes his own life on the statement being carried out.

4Look, every life belongs to me. The father's life is mine, and the son's life is mine too. The person who sins is the one who will die.

4Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.

NoteThe word behind "life" (and "the person who sins") is Hebrew *nephesh*, which means a living being, the breathing self, the individual person. It does not mean a soul as something separable from the body, and the older translation "soul" can mislead here.

5Suppose a man is upright and does what is just and right.

5But if a man be just, and do that which is lawful and right,

Note"Upright" translates *tsaddiq*, in origin a courtroom word: the person who would be found in the right if his case were tried. The list that follows in verses 6-9 functions like a legal checklist of what being "in the right" consists of.

6He does not eat at the mountain shrines or look to the idols of the people of Israel. He does not have sex with his neighbor's wife, and he does not go near a woman during her monthly period.

6And hath not eaten upon the mountains, neither hath lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, neither hath defiled his neighbour’s wife, neither hath come near to a menstruous woman,

Note"Eat at the mountain shrines" refers to sacrificial meals at open-air worship sites on hilltops, the "high places" condemned throughout Kings and Jeremiah, used for the worship of other gods or of Israel's God by forbidden means. "Look to" the idols renders a gesture: lifting the eyes toward an image was a posture of prayer and dependence. Approaching a woman during her period was prohibited in Israel's purity laws (Leviticus 18:19; 20:18); the point of listing it here is that it belonged to the same body of law as the other items.

7He does not mistreat anyone. He gives back to a borrower the item held as security for a loan. He does not rob anyone. He gives his bread to the hungry and clothes to people who have none.

7And hath not oppressed any, but hath restored to the debtor his pledge, hath spoiled none by violence, hath given his bread to the hungry, and hath covered the naked with a garment;

NoteThe "item held as security" is a pledge: an object handed over to guarantee repayment of a loan. Israelite law limited what could be taken and required a poor man's cloak to be given back before nightfall, since he slept in it (Exodus 22:26-27; Deuteronomy 24:10-13). Keeping a pledge was therefore not a private matter between lender and borrower but a breach of law.

8He does not lend money at interest or charge extra when a loan is repaid. He holds his hand back from doing wrong. He judges honestly between one person and another.

8He that hath not given forth upon usury, neither hath taken any increase, that hath withdrawn his hand from iniquity, hath executed true judgment between man and man,

NoteIsraelite law forbade charging a fellow Israelite interest on a loan at all (Exodus 22:25; Leviticus 25:35-37; Deuteronomy 23:19-20); lending at interest to outsiders was permitted. Two Hebrew terms are used, one meaning roughly "a bite" (interest deducted at the start) and one "an increase" (extra repaid at the end); whether they were two distinct practices or one practice named twice is not certain.

9He lives by my rules and carefully keeps my laws, dealing honestly. That man is upright. He will surely live, says the Lord GOD.

9Hath walked in my statutes, and hath kept my judgments, to deal truly; he is just, he shall surely live, saith the Lord GOD.

Note"Rules" and "laws" render two standard Hebrew terms for categories of commandment, *chuqqot*, fixed decrees, and *mishpatim*, rulings of the kind a judge hands down. They are paired throughout the Old Testament as a way of saying "the whole body of law."

10Now suppose that man has a son who robs and kills, or who does any one of these wrong things,

10If he beget a son that is a robber, a shedder of blood, and that doeth the like to any one of these things,

11and who does none of the good things his father did. Instead, this son eats at the mountain shrines and has sex with his neighbor's wife.

11And that doeth not any of those duties, but even hath eaten upon the mountains, and defiled his neighbour’s wife,

NoteThe Hebrew of verses 10-11 is compressed and difficult, and translations divide the clauses differently: the phrase rendered "does none of the good things his father did" could also be read as "though the father did none of these things." The overall sense, a bad son of a good father, is not in doubt, but the wording is.

12He mistreats the poor and the needy. He robs people. He does not give back the item held as security for a loan. He looks to idols. He does detestable things.

12Hath oppressed the poor and needy, hath spoiled by violence, hath not restored the pledge, and hath lifted up his eyes to the idols, hath committed abomination,

Note"Detestable things" translates *to'evah*, a technical term for what is offensive within the covenant. It is used most often of idolatry and of forbidden sexual and ritual practices, and marks an act as excluded outright rather than merely disapproved of.

13He lends money at interest and charges extra when a loan is repaid. Will this son live? He will not live. He has done all these detestable things, so he will surely die. His death will be his own fault.

13Hath given forth upon usury, and hath taken increase: shall he then live? he shall not live: he hath done all these abominations; he shall surely die; his blood shall be upon him.

Note"His death will be his own fault" renders the legal formula "his blood shall be upon him", a courtroom expression declaring that responsibility for a person's execution rests on the condemned man himself, not on those who carry out the sentence or on his family.

14Now suppose this son has a son of his own who sees all the sins his father committed, thinks them over, and does not do the same things.

14Now, lo, if he beget a son, that seeth all his father’s sins which he hath done, and considereth, and doeth not such like,

15He does not eat at the mountain shrines or look to the idols of the people of Israel. He does not have sex with his neighbor's wife.

15That hath not eaten upon the mountains, neither hath lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, hath not defiled his neighbour’s wife,

16He does not mistreat anyone. He does not keep an item held as security for a loan. He does not rob anyone. He gives his bread to the hungry and clothes to people who have none.

16Neither hath oppressed any, hath not withholden the pledge, neither hath spoiled by violence, but hath given his bread to the hungry, and hath covered the naked with a garment,

17He holds his hand back from harming the poor. He takes no interest and charges nothing extra on a loan. He keeps my laws and lives by my rules. This man will not die for his father's wrongdoing. He will surely live.

17That hath taken off his hand from the poor, that hath not received usury nor increase, hath executed my judgments, hath walked in my statutes; he shall not die for the iniquity of his father, he shall surely live.

NoteThe Hebrew here reads "withholds his hand from the poor," which is odd, since the parallel line in verse 8 reads "withholds his hand from wrongdoing"; the two words are similar in Hebrew and the ancient Greek translation has "wrongdoing" in both places. Translations divide over which to follow, so "harming the poor" and "doing wrong" are both defensible readings of this line.

18As for his father, he will die for his own wrongdoing, because he squeezed people cruelly, robbed his brother by force, and did what was wrong among his own people.

18As for his father, because he cruelly oppressed, spoiled his brother by violence, and did that which is not good among his people, lo, even he shall die in his iniquity.

Note"Squeezed people cruelly" translates a verb (*'ashaq*) used for exploiting someone you have power over, withholding a hired worker's wages, taking what is owed to a dependent. "His brother" means a fellow Israelite, not a blood sibling.

19Yet you ask, "Why should the son not carry the guilt of his father?" Because the son has done what is just and right, and has carefully kept all my rules, he will surely live.

19Yet 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.

Note"Carry the guilt of" is a legal idiom meaning to bear the liability for an offense and its penalty, the way a person might be made to shoulder another's debt. The question in this verse assumes an older principle stated at Exodus 20:5 and Deuteronomy 5:9, that consequences for wrongdoing fall on later generations; this chapter is the reply to that assumption as the exiles were applying it to themselves.

20The person who sins is the one who will die. A son will not carry his father's guilt, and a father will not carry his son's guilt. The right living of the upright person belongs to that person alone, and the wrongdoing of the wicked person falls on that person alone.

20The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.

21But if a wicked person turns away from all the sins he has committed, keeps all my rules, and does what is just and right, he will surely live. He will not die.

21But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die.

22None of the wrongs he has committed will be brought up against him. He will live because of the right things he has done.

22All his transgressions that he hath committed, they shall not be mentioned unto him: in his righteousness that he hath done he shall live.

23Do I take any pleasure at all in the death of a wicked person? says the Lord GOD. Would I not rather that he turn from his ways and live?

23Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord GOD: and not that he should return from his ways, and live?

24But if an upright person stops living rightly and starts doing wrong, doing all the detestable things a wicked person does, will he live? None of the right things he did will be remembered. He will die because he broke faith and sinned.

24But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live? All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned: in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die.

Note"Broke faith" translates *ma'al*, a term for treachery against someone who trusted you; in law it was used especially for misappropriating what had been dedicated to God, and so carries the sense of a betrayal rather than a lapse.

25Yet you say, "The way of the LORD is not fair." Listen now, people of Israel. Is my way unfair? Is it not your ways that are unfair?

25Yet ye say, The way of the LORD is not equal. Hear now, O house of Israel; Is not my way equal? are not your ways unequal?

NoteThe old wording, "the way of the LORD is not equal," uses "equal" in its 1611 sense of evenly weighted or level: that is, fair. The Hebrew verb pictures measuring or weighing something out, so the complaint is that God's dealings do not balance.

26When an upright person stops living rightly, does wrong, and dies because of it, he dies for the wrong he himself has done.

26When a righteous man turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and dieth in them; for his iniquity that he hath done shall he die.

27And when a wicked person turns away from the wickedness he has committed and does what is just and right, he will save his own life.

27Again, when the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive.

28Because he thought it over and turned away from all the wrongs he had committed, he will surely live. He will not die.

28Because he considereth, and turneth away from all his transgressions that he hath committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die.

29Yet the people of Israel say, "The way of the LORD is not fair." People of Israel, are my ways unfair? Is it not your ways that are unfair?

29Yet saith the house of Israel, The way of the LORD is not equal. O house of Israel, are not my ways equal? are not your ways unequal?

30So I will judge each of you by your own ways, people of Israel, says the Lord GOD. Turn back. Turn away from all your wrongdoing, so that your sin will not be your ruin.

30Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord GOD. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.

Note"Turn back" translates *shuv*, the ordinary Hebrew word for turning around and going the other way on a road. Used of conduct, it means reversing direction; the older English word for it is "repent," which in modern usage suggests feeling sorry, while the Hebrew word is about changing course.

31Throw away from yourselves all the wrongs you have committed, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. Why should you die, people of Israel?

31Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel?

NoteIn Hebrew usage the "heart" is the seat of thinking, choosing and intention rather than of feeling, closer to the modern "mind." "Spirit" (*ruach*) is the same word as breath or wind, and used of a person means the animating disposition, the settled inclination that drives behavior.

32I take no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies, says the Lord GOD. So turn back, and live.

32For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord GOD: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye.