Ezekiel 18:18

18 Because his father {oppressed severely}; {he stole from his brother}; [that] which [is] not good he did in the midst of his people, and look! He will die through his guilt.

Ezekiel 18:18 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 18:18

[As for] his father
It shall be otherwise with him: because he cruelly oppressed;
or, "oppressed an oppression"; or, "with an oppression" ^F9; oppressed the poor, and had no mercy on them, but used them in the most rigorous manner: spoiled his brother by violence;
took away the spoil of his brother; spoiled him of his substance; did injury to his person and property, and all the mischief that lay in his power: and did [that] which [is] not good among his people;
neighbours, citizens, and countrymen; did nothing which was good, as he ought to have done; but everything that was bad, which he should not have done: lo, even he shall die in his iniquity:
and for it; it shall not be forgiven him; he shall be punished for it with death, with the death of affliction; and with corporeal death, as a punishment for sin; and with eternal death, dying in his sins, and in a state of impenitence. These instances, put every way, most clearly show the equity of God; the justness of his proceedings in providence; and how inapplicable the proverb in ( Ezekiel 18:2 ) was to them; and that such that sin, and continue therein, shall die for their own iniquities, and not for the sins of others.

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FOOTNOTES:

F9 (qve qve) "oppressit oppressionem", Pagninus, Montanus; "oppressit oppressione", Vatablus, Junius & Tremellius.

Ezekiel 18:18 In-Context

16 And he oppresses no one; he requires no pledge for a loan, and {he does not commit robbery}; he gives his bread to [the] hungry, and he covers the naked person [with] a garment.

17 He brings back his hand from iniquity; he does not take interest and usury; he does my regulations; he goes in my statutes. He will not die because of the guilt of his father; he will surely live!

18 Because his father {oppressed severely}; {he stole from his brother}; [that] which [is] not good he did in the midst of his people, and look! He will die through his guilt.

19 "Yet you say, 'Why [does] the son not bear the guilt of the father?' And [since] the son does justice and righteousness and he keeps all of my statutes and does them, he shall surely live!

20 The person, the [one] sinning, will die. A son shall not bear the guilt of the father, and a father shall not bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be on him; the wickedness of the wicked shall be on him.

Footnotes

• [a] Literally "he oppressed oppression"
• [b] Literally "he seized robbed things of a brother"
• [c] Or "in"