Ezekiel 33:17

17 Yet your people say, "The way of the Lord is not just," when it is their own way that is not just.

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 if the wicked restore the pledge, give back what they have taken by robbery, and walk in the statutes of life, committing no iniquity—they shall surely live, they shall not die.
16 None of the sins that they have committed shall be remembered against them; they have done what is lawful and right, they shall surely live.
17 Yet your people say, "The way of the Lord is not just," when it is their own way that is not just.
18 When the righteous turn from their righteousness, and commit iniquity, they shall die for it.
19 And when the wicked turn from their wickedness, and do what is lawful and right, they shall live by it.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.