Ezekiel 33:15

15 He gives back what he took as security for a loan. He returns what he has stolen. He follows my rules that give life. He does not do what is evil. Then you can be sure he will live. He will not die.

Ezekiel 33:15 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 33:15

If the wicked restore the pledge
His neighbour's raiment, which he has taken as a pledge for money lent him; and which, according to the law, was to be restored before sunset, ( Exodus 22:26 Exodus 22:27 ) which wicked men did not attend unto; but when such a man is brought to a sense of his wickedness, and repentance for it, as an evidence of it he would restore the pledge: and give again that he had robbed;
to him whom he had robbed; as a thief was obliged to do, four or five fold, according to the law, ( Exodus 22:1 ) , and which, when a man did voluntarily, from the convictions of his own mind, and not by force of the civil magistrate, it was a sign of true repentance; see ( Luke 19:8 ) : and walk in the statutes of life;
the rule of life and conversation, and to the keeping of which the promise of long life is annexed; and which preserve persons from dying a shameful death by the hand of the civil magistrate; statutes, which, if a man do, he shall live in them; see ( Ezekiel 20:11 ) : without committing iniquity;
not living entirely without sin, which the best of men do not; but without committing grosser sins, as before; and without making a trade of sinning, and living in it: he shall surely live, he shall not die;
he shall live comfortably now, and happily hereafter; he shall live a spiritual life, and not die the second death.

Ezekiel 33:15 In-Context

13 "Suppose I tell someone who is godly that he will live. And he trusts in the fact that he used to do what was right. But now he does what is evil. Then I will not remember any of the right things he has done. He will die because he has done so many evil things.

14 "Suppose I say to a sinful person, 'You can be sure you will die.' And then he turns away from his sin. He does what is fair and right.

15 He gives back what he took as security for a loan. He returns what he has stolen. He follows my rules that give life. He does not do what is evil. Then you can be sure he will live. He will not die.

16 None of the sins he has committed will be held against him. He has done what is fair and right. So you can be sure he will live.

17 "In spite of that, your people say, 'What the Lord does isn't fair.' But it is what you do that is not fair.