Ezekiel 18

1-32 Individual Accountability

Note: This is one of the more familiar chapters in Ezekiel, especially the KJV: “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.”.

Apparently, the people of Israel did not understand the concepts of repentance and forgiveness. A son paid the consequences for his father’s wickedness; a father was responsible for his son’s wickedness. They saw it as unfair that one who had sinned could be forgiven, and equally unfair that one who had been righteous could lose his reward.

Bottom line? God wants all people to be righteous, and live.

• The proverb “The parents have eaten sour grapes and the children’s teeth are set on edge” is no longer valid.
• All lives belong to God; only the person who sins will die.
• He who is righteous will live, and he is righteous who:
  • does not worship idols
  • does not defile his neighbor’s wife or approach a woman during her menstrual period
  • does not oppress anyone, but restores a pledge to a debtor
  • does not commit robbery
  • gives bread to the hungry and clothes the naked
  • does not take an advance or accrued interest
  • withholds his hand from iniquity
  • executes true justice
  • follows God’s statutes and ordinances
  • acts faithfully
• On the other hand, if his son acts unrighteously, the son will die
• But if the son’s son is righteous, he will live.
• The person who sins shall die; a child shall not suffer for the sins of the parent, neither the parent for the child.
• If the wicked turn away from their wickedness, their sins will be forgotten, and they will live, for God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked.
• But if the righteous turn to wickedness, their righteous deeds will be forgotten, and they will die.
• You say that God’s way is unfair? Is it not your ways that are unfair?
• I will judge you, Oh house of Israel, according to your ways.
• Repent and live, for I have no pleasure in the death of anyone.
• Turn, then, and live.