Yechezkel 18:23

23 Have I any pleasure at all in the mot rashah? saith Adonoi Hashem. And not that he should make teshuvah from the darkhei of him, and live?

Yechezkel 18:23 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 18:23

Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith
the Lord God
Perish by sword, famine, or pestilence, or go into captivity; this, though the Lord's will and work, yet is his strange work; mercy is his delight. This is to be understood not absolutely; for the Lord does take pleasure in these things, as they fulfil his word, secure the honour of his truth and holiness, and glorify his justice, and especially when they are the means of reclaiming men from the evil of their ways; but comparatively, as follows: [and] not that he should return from his ways, and live?
that is, it is more pleasing to God that a man should repent of his sins, and forsake his vicious course of life, and enjoy good things, than to go on in his sins, and bring ruin on himself, here and hereafter.

Yechezkel 18:23 In-Context

21 But if the rashah will turn from all his chattot that he hath committed, and be shomer over all My chukkot, and do that which is mishpat and tzedakah, he shall surely live, he shall not die.
22 All his peysha’im that he hath committed, they shall not be remembered against him: in his tzidkat that he hath done he shall live.
23 Have I any pleasure at all in the mot rashah? saith Adonoi Hashem. And not that he should make teshuvah from the darkhei of him, and live?
24 But when the tzaddik turneth away from his tzedek, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the to’evot that the rashah doeth, shall he live? All his tzedek that he hath done shall not be remembered; in his ma’al (unfaithfulness) that he hath committed treachery, and in his chattat that he hath sinned, in them shall he die.
25 Yet ye say, The Derech Adonoi is not proper. Hear now, O Bais Yisroel: Is My Derech not proper? Is it not the drakhim of you that are not proper?
The Orthodox Jewish Bible fourth edition, OJB. Copyright 2002,2003,2008,2010, 2011 by Artists for Israel International. All rights reserved.