Ezekiel 18:31

31 Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed against me, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel?

Ezekiel 18:31 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 18:31

Cast away from you all your transgressions whereby ye have
transgressed
As unprofitable and pernicious, to be abhorred and abstained from, and to be cast off, as loads and burdens upon them. Kimchi interprets it of the punishment of their sins, which might be cast off, or escaped, by repentance; perhaps it is best to interpret it of the casting away of their idols, by which they transgressed; see ( Ezekiel 20:7 Ezekiel 20:8 ) ; and make you a new heart and a new spirit;
which the Lord elsewhere promises to give, and he does give to his own elect; (See Gill on Ezekiel 11:19); and if here to be understood of a regenerated heart and spirit, in which are new principles of light, life, and love, grace and holiness, it will not prove that it is in the power of man to make himself such a heart and spirit; since from God's command, to man's power, is no argument; and the design of the exhortation is to convince men of their want of such a heart; of the importance of it: and which, through the efficacious grace of God, may be a means of his people having it, seeing he has in covenant promised it to them. The Targum renders it,

``a fearing heart, and a spirit of fear;''
that is, a heart and spirit to fear, serve, and worship the Lord, and not idols; and so the amount of the exhortation is, yield a hearty reverential obedience to the living God, and not to dumb idols; or that they would be hearty and sincere in their national repentance and reformation they are here pressed unto: for why will ye die, O house of Israel?
which is to be understood, not of an eternal death; since the deaths here spoken of was now upon them, what they were complaining of, and from which they might be recovered, ( Ezekiel 18:2 Ezekiel 18:23 ) ; but temporal calamity and affliction, as in ( 2 Corinthians 1:10 ) ( 11:23 ) ; and so in the following words.

Ezekiel 18:31 In-Context

29 Yet the house of Israel says, 'The way of the Lord is not just.' O house of Israel, are my ways not just? Is it not your ways that are not just?
30 "Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, says the Lord GOD. Repent and turn from all your transgressions, lest iniquity be your ruin.
31 Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed against me, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel?
32 For I have no pleasure in the death of any one, says the Lord GOD; so turn, and live."
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the 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.