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Ezekiel 18:1-11

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God’s Just Treatment of Individuals, Both Righteous and Wicked

1 And the word of Yahweh {came} to me, {saying},
2 "{What do you mean by} quoting this proverb about the land of Israel, {saying}, 'The fathers, they ate unripe fruit, and the teeth of the child became blunt.'
3 {As I live}, {declares} the Lord Yahweh, it will surely not any longer be {appropriate for you} to quote this proverb in Israel!
4 Look! {All lives are mine}. {The lives of father and son alike are mine}. The person sinning will die.
5 And if a man is righteous and does justice and righteousness,
6 and on the mountains he [does] not eat and he [does] not lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, and the wife of his neighbor he [does] not defile and he [does] not approach a woman of menstruation,
7 and he oppresses {no one} [and] he returns [a] pledge for his loan {and he commits no robbery} [and] he gives his bread to [the] hungry and he covers a naked person [with] a garment,
8 [and] {he does not charge interest} and he takes no usury, [and] he holds back his hand from injustice [and] he executes [a] judgment of fairness between {persons},
9 [and] in my statutes he goes about and my regulations he keeps, {performing faithfully} --[then] he is righteous, [and] certainly he will live," {declares} the Lord Yahweh.
10 "And [now] he has a son, a violent one, {who sheds blood} {and does any of these things}
11 (though he did not do all of these [things]), for [the son] also eats on the mountains and he defiles the wife of his neighbor.
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Ezekiel 18:1-11 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO EZEKIEL 18

This chapter contains an answer to an objection of the Jews to the dealings of God with them in a providential way. The objection is expressed in a proverb of common use among them, and complained of as being without cause, Eze 18:1,2; however, for the future, no occasion should be given them to use it; for, though God could justify his proceedings upon the foot of his sovereignty, all souls being his; yet he was determined none but the sinner himself should suffer, Eze 18:3,4; and puts various cases for the illustration and vindication of his proceedings; as that a just man, who is described by his proper characters, as abstaining from several sins specified, and doing what is right and good, should surely live, Eze 18:5-9; but that the son of such a just man, being the reverse of his father's character, should surely die, Eze 18:10-13; and again, the son of such a wicked man, observing the heinousness of his father's sins, and abstaining from them, though his father should die in his iniquities, he should not die for them, but live, Eze 18:14-18; by which it appears that the dealings of God with the Jews were not according to the proverb used by them, but quite agreeable to his resolution; that the sinner, be he a father or a son, shall die for his own sins; and that the righteous man's righteousness shall be upon him, and the wicked man's sin upon him, and accordingly both shall be dealt with, Eze 18:19,20; which is further illustrated by a wicked man's turning from his sinful course, and doing righteousness, and living in that righteousness he has done; which is more agreeable to God that he should live, and not die in sin, Eze 18:21-23; and by a righteous man turning from his righteousness, and living a vicious life, and dying in it, Eze 18:24; from both which instances this conclusion follows, that God is to be justified; and that his ways are equal, and the Jews' ways were unequal, and their complaint unjust, Eze 18:25; and the same instances are repeated in a different order, and the same conclusion formed, Eze 18:26-29; upon which the Lord determines to judge them according to their own ways, their personal actions, good or bad; and exhorts them to repentance and reformation; and closes with a pathetic expostulation, with them, Eze 18:30-32.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Footnotes 26

  • [a]. Literally "was"
  • [b]. Literally "to say"
  • [c]. Literally "What [is] to you"
  • [d]. Literally "to say"
  • [e]. Or "dull," set on edge"
  • [f]. Literally "life I"
  • [g]. Literally "declaration of"
  • [h]. Literally "to you"
  • [i]. Literally "all of the lives [are] for me they"
  • [j]. Literally "Like the life of the father and like the life of the son [is] to me look"
  • [k]. Or "life," or "soul"
  • [l]. Or "in"
  • [m]. Literally "a person not"
  • [n]. Literally "robbed things not he seized"
  • [o]. Or "shares"
  • [p]. Literally "with the interest not he gives"
  • [q]. Or "brings back"
  • [r]. Literally "man and man"
  • [s]. Or "watches"
  • [t]. Literally "to do with [with] faithfulness"
  • [u]. Literally "declaration of"
  • [v]. Literally "shedding of blood"
  • [w]. Literally "and he does like from one from these"
  • [x]. Hebrew "And"
  • [y]. That is, the father
  • [z]. Or "even"
Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.