Ezekiel 18:5

5 "Consider someone who is righteous, who does what is lawful and right.

Ezekiel 18:5 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 18:5

But if a man be just
Not legally, as to be wholly free from sin, for there is no such just man, ( Ecclesiastes 7:20 ) ; but evangelically, through the imputation of the righteousness of Christ unto him; and who has a principle of grace and holiness wrought in him; a man of a just principle and good conscience; who is disposed by the grace of God to that which is just and right; for this seems to refer to the inward frame of the mind, as distinct from actions, and as the source of them, as follows: and do that which is lawful and right;
or "judgment" ^F3 and "justice"; true judgment and justice, as the Targum; that which is just and right by the law of God, and is so between man and man; the particulars of which follow:

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FOOTNOTES:

F3 (hqduw jpvm) "judiciam et justitiam", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus

Ezekiel 18:5 In-Context

3 "As I live," says Adonai ELOHIM, "I swear that you will never again quote this proverb in Isra'el.

4 Look, all lives belong to me - both the parent's life and the child's life are equally mine - so it is the person who sins, himself, who must die.

5 "Consider someone who is righteous, who does what is lawful and right.

6 He doesn't eat on the mountains or raise his eyes toward the idols of the house of Isra'el; he doesn't defile his neighbor's wife or touch a woman during her time of menstrual impurity;

7 he doesn't wrong anyone; he returns any pledged property a debtor has given as collateral for a loan; he takes nothing by robbery, but gives his food to the hungry and clothing to those who need it;