Ezekiel 33:17

17 “Your people are saying, ‘The Lord isn’t doing what’s right,’ but it is they who are not doing what’s right.

Ezekiel 33:17 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 33:17

Yet the children of thy people say
"Not my people"; for surely the children of God could never say what follows; and one would think that even no man could say it, after so much had been said by the Lord concerning the righteous and the wicked, and his dealings with them, which must appear to be just and right, good and gracious; and yet such were the atheism, the perverseness and peevishness of these people, they went on to say as they had done before: the way of the Lord is not equal:
is not according to the rules of justice and equity. The Targum is, ``the ways of the goodness of the Lord are not made plain (or exposed) unto us.'' The answer to which is, but, as for them, their way is not equal;
according to the rule of the divine word; as for God, his way and methods, both of providence and grace, were right and good; (See Gill on Ezekiel 18:25).

Ezekiel 33:17 In-Context

15 For instance, they might give back a debtor’s security, return what they have stolen, and obey my life-giving laws, no longer doing what is evil. If they do this, then they will surely live and not die.

16 None of their past sins will be brought up again, for they have done what is just and right, and they will surely live.

17 “Your people are saying, ‘The Lord isn’t doing what’s right,’ but it is they who are not doing what’s right.

18 For again I say, when righteous people turn away from their righteous behavior and turn to evil, they will die.

19 But if wicked people turn from their wickedness and do what is just and right, they will live.