Ezekiel 18
18
God’s Just Treatment of Individuals, Both Righteous and Wicked
1And the word of Yahweh came#Literally “was” to me, saying,#Literally “to say” 2“What do you mean by#Literally “What is to you” quoting this proverb about the land of Israel, saying,#Literally “to say” ‘The fathers, they ate unripe fruit, and the teeth of the child became blunt.’#Or “dull,” set on edge” 3As I live,#Literally “life I” declares#Literally “declaration of” the Lord Yahweh, it will surely not any longer be appropriate for you#Literally “to you” to quote this proverb in Israel! 4Look! All lives are mine.#Literally “all of the lives are for me they” The lives of father and son alike are mine.#Literally “Like the life of the father and like the life of the son is to me look” The person#Or “life,” or “soul” sinning will die. 5And if a man is righteous and does justice and righteousness, 6and on the mountains he does not eat and he does not lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, and the wife of his neighbor he does not defile and he does not approach a woman of#Or “in” menstruation, 7and he oppresses no one#Literally “a person not” and he returns a pledge for his loan and he commits no robbery#Literally “robbed things not he seized” and he gives#Or “shares” his bread to the hungry and he covers a naked person with a garment, 8and he does not charge interest#Literally “with the interest not he gives” and he takes no usury, and he holds back#Or “brings back” his hand from injustice and he executes a judgment of fairness between persons,#Literally “man and man” 9and in my statutes he goes about and my regulations he keeps,#Or “watches” performing faithfully#Literally “to do with with faithfulness” —then he is righteous, and certainly he will live,” declares#Literally “declaration of” the Lord Yahweh.
10“And now he has a son, a violent one, who sheds blood#Literally “shedding of blood” and does any of these things#Literally “and he does like from one from these” 11(though#Hebrew “And” he#That is, the father did not do all of these things), for the son also#Or “even” eats on the mountains and he defiles the wife of his neighbor. 12He oppresses the needy and the poor, and he commits robbery,#Literally “robbed things he seized” and he does not return a pledge for a loan, and he lifts his eyes to the idols so he does a detestable thing. 13He charges interest#Literally “with the interest he gives” and takes usury. Then, shall he live? He shall not live, for he did all of these detestable things. Surely he will die! His blood will be on him.
14“And look! He has a son, and he sees all of the sin of his father that he did, and he sees it, but he does not do it. 15On the mountains he does not eat, and he does not lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, and the wife of his neighbor he does not defile. 16And he oppresses no one; he requires no pledge for a loan, and he does not commit robbery;#Literally “robbed things not does he seize” he gives his bread to the hungry, and he covers the naked person with a garment. 17He brings back#Or “holds back” his hand from iniquity;#Cf. verse 8 he does not take interest and usury; he does my regulations; he goes#Or “walks” in my statutes. He will not die because of the guilt of his father; he will surely live! 18Because his father oppressed severely;#Literally “he oppressed oppression” he stole from his brother;#Literally “he seized robbed things of a brother” that which is not good he did in the midst of his people, and look! He will die through#Or “in” his guilt.
19“Yet#Or “And” 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! 20The person,#Or “soul,” or “life” 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#According to the reading tradition (Qere) shall be on him. 21But if the wicked returns from all of his sins#According to the reading tradition (Qere) that he has done and he keeps all of my statutes and he does justice and righteousness, he shall surely live; he shall not die! 22All of his transgressions that he committed will not be remembered against#Or “for” him. Through#Or “By means of” his righteousness that he has done he shall live. 23Have I delight by any means#Or “in any way” in the death of the wicked, declares#Literally “declaration of” the Lord Yahweh, and not at his turning from his way, so that#Literally “and” he lives? 24And when the righteous turns#Literally “at turning of the righteous” from his righteousness, so that#Literally “and” he does injustice, and does all of the detestable things that the wicked do, then#Or “and” will he live because of all of his righteousness#According to the reading tradition (Qere) that he did? Those things will not be remembered because of his infidelity that he displayed, and because of his sin that he committed.#Literally “sin that he sinned” Through#Or “in/by” them he shall die.
25“Yet#Or “And” you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not fair!’ Listen, now, house of Israel, is my way not fair? Is it not your ways that are not fair? 26When the righteous turns from his righteousness, and he does injustice, then#Or “and” he will die because of them; because of his injustice that he did he will die! 27And when the wicked turns from his wickedness that he did and he does justice and righteousness, he will preserve his life.#Literally “his soul/life he will keep alive” 28And if he sees and he returns from all of his transgressions that he did, surely he will live; he will not die! 29And yet they, the house of Israel, say, ‘The way of the Lord is not fair!’ Are not my ways fair, house of Israel? Are not your ways unfair?#Literally “not ways your not are right”
30“Therefore I will judge you, house of Israel, each one#Hebrew “man” according to his ways,” declares#Literally “declaration of” the Lord Yahweh. “Repent#Or “Turn/Return” and turn around from all of your transgression, and it will not be as a stumbling block of iniquity to you. 31Throw away from yourselves#Literally “from on you” all of your transgressions that you committed,#Hebrew “committed with them” and make for yourselves#Literally “to you” a new heart and new spirit, and so why will you die, house of Israel? 32For I have no pleasure in the death of the dying,” declares#Literally “declaration of” the Lord Yahweh. “And so repent#Or “turn/return” and live!”
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Ezekiel 18: LEB
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Ezekiel 18
18
1A message from the Lord came to me, saying, 2“What's this proverb you people are quoting about the country of Israel:
‘The fathers ate the unripe grapes, but their children got the sour taste’?#18:2. In other words, “it's not our fault this is happening to us; it's due to our forefathers' sins, not ours.” See also Jeremiah 31:29.
3As I live, declares the Lord God, you won't quote this proverb in Israel any more. 4Can't you see that everyone belongs to me? Whether parents or children, they are all mine. It's the person who sins who will die.
5Take the example of a man who is a good person, doing what is fair and right.
6He doesn't go to the pagan shrines in the mountains to eat a religious meal, or worship Israel's idols. He doesn't have sex with someone else's wife or with a woman during her period. 7He doesn't exploit anyone. He gives back what a debtor has given him as security. He doesn't rob others. He feeds the hungry and clothes the naked. 8He doesn't lend with interest or make a profit from loans. He refuses to do wrong and makes sure he's truly fair in his decisions between people. 9He follows my rules and keeps my regulations faithfully. Such a man lives by what's right and he will certainly live, declares the Lord God.
10What if that man has a son who is a violent criminal, who kills and does do such evil things just listed 11even though the father doesn't act like that at all. The son goes to the pagan shrines in the mountains to eat a religious meal. He has sex with someone else's wife. 12He exploits the poor and those in need. He robs others, and he doesn't give back what a debtor has given him as security. He worships idols. He commits disgusting sins. 13He lends with interest and makes a profit from loans. Is someone like this going to live? No, he won't! Because he has done all these offensive things, he will die for certain, and he will be responsible for his own death.
14Now what if this man has a son who sees all the sins his father has committed. He sees them but doesn't do the same. 15He doesn't go to the pagan shrines in the mountains to eat a religious meal, or worship Israel's idols. He doesn't have sex with someone else's wife. 16He doesn't exploit anyone. He doesn't demand security for a loan. He doesn't rob others. He feeds the hungry and clothes the naked. 17He refuses to do wrong and does not charge interest or make a profit on loans. He keeps my regulations and follows my laws. A man like that won't die because of his father's sins, he will certainly live! 18But his father will die for his own sins, because he exploited others, robbed his relatives, and did wrong to his own people. 19You ask, ‘Why shouldn't the son pay for his father's sins?’ If the son has done what is fair and right, keeping all my laws, then he'll live, he won't be punished.#18:19. “He won't be punished”: supplied for clarity.
20It's the person who sins who will die. A son won't pay for his father's sins, and a father won't pay for his son's sins. The good consequences of living right will come to those who are good; the evil consequences of wickedness will come to those who are evil.
21However, if someone who is wicked stops sinning and keeps my laws, doing what is fair and right, they will certainly live—they won't die. 22None of their sins will be held against them. Because they are now doing what's right, they will live. 23Do I like it when wicked people die? declares the Lord God. Of course not—I would be delighted if they stopped sinning and lived!
24But if someone who is living according to what's right stops and does wrong, doing the same offensive things as the wicked, will that person live? Of course not! In fact, all the good things they did previously will be forgotten. That person will die because of their betrayal of me and the sins they've committed.
25Even so you say, ‘What the Lord does isn't right.’
People of Israel, listen to me! Is it what I'm doing that isn't right? Isn't it what you're doing that isn't right?
26If someone who lives according to what's right stops doing right and does wrong, they will die. They will die because of wrong things they've done.
27But if someone wicked stops doing wrong and does what is fair and right, they will save their life. 28Because they thought about it and gave up their wicked ways, they will certainly live—they won't die.
29But the people of Israel say, ‘The Lord's way isn't right.’
Are my ways unfair, people of Israel? Isn't it your ways that aren't fair?
30Consequently I'm going to judge you, people of Israel! I will judge each of you depending on what you've done, declares the Lord God. Repent and stop rebelling so that your sins won't bring you down. 31Get rid of all your rebellious sins! Change your way of thinking and have a new spirit. Why do you want to die, people of Israel?
32I don't like it when anybody dies, declares the Lord God. So repent so you can live!”
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Dr. Jonathan Gallagher. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Version 4.3. For corrections send email to jonathangallagherfbv@gmail.com