Ezekiel 18

Ezekiel 18:4

Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.

Ye have no reason to murmur against me, as either partial or rigorous; for, are not all souls the work of my creation, one as well as another? and hath not every workman a will to wish well to his own handiwork? were it not therefore for sin, no soul should die.

Ezekiel 18:5

But if a man be just and do that which is lawful and right.

But if a man do sincerely apply himself to the keeping of God’s law, and carefully endeavour to do that which is just and right.

Ezekiel 18:6

And hath not eaten upon the mountains, neither hath lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, neither hath defiled his neighbour’s wife, neither hath come near to a menstruous woman.

And hath not given way to superstitious and idolatrous sacrifices, neither hath given any worship to the idols of Israel, nor hath suffered himself to be defiled with adultery, nor hath been polluted with that legal uncleanness of unseasonable copulation with a woman set apart for her disease.

Ezekiel 18:8

He that hath not given forth upon usury, neither hath taken any increase.

He that hath not given forth his money upon usury, neither hath upon any pretence taken increase from the hands of the borrower.

Ezekiel 18:10

If he beget a son that is a robber, a shedder of blood, and that doeth the like to any of these things,

If now this upright man beget a son that is a robber, or a murderer, or is guilty of any other notorious violation of God’s law,

Ezekiel 18:11

And that doeth not any of these duties, but even hath eaten upon the mountains, and defiled his neighbour’s wife, &c.

And doth not set himself to do any of the holy duties required, but yieldeth to idolatrous practices, and to adulteries and other uncleannesses, &c.

Ezekiel 18:13

Shall he then live? he shall not live.

Shall that son, because he is descended of holy and good parents, live, and have the blessings of a comfortable life continued unto him? No; he shall not live.

Ezekiel 18:14

Now, lo, if he beget a son, that seeth all his father’s sins which he hath done, and considereth, and doeth not such like.

Now, if this degenerated and wicked man beget a son, that seeth these sins of his father, and, upon due consideration, avoideth and abhorreth all his evil ways.

Ezekiel 18:20

The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.

No soul shall be adjudged to death, for any sin, but his own: that universal contagion of our first parents’ sin hath spread itself over every soul, and, by our propriety therein, hath made us liable to death; but, in our personal derivation from our following parents, there can be no guilt of death to any man: the son shall not be condemned to death, for the sin of the father, &c. But he, that doeth righteously, shall speed well with God, and be graciously accepted; he that doeth evil, shall receive according to the wickedness he hath committed.

Ezekiel 18:21

But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die.

If that man, who hath been formerly wicked, shall now prove truly penitent, and turn from all his sins, and hereafter live holily and conscionably in this present world, he shall surely live, and not die. So verse 22.

Ezekiel 18:23

Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord God: and not that he should return from his ways and live?

Is it any pleasure to me, that men should be wicked; or that those, which are now wicked men, should die everlastingly? saith the Lord God. Is it not rather my desire, that men should

Ezekiel 18:24

But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live? All his righteousness that he hath done, shall not be mentioned: in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die.

But when that man, who hath, all the while, carried himself righteously and unreproveably, shall now, as being weary of his holy courses, turn away from his upright disposition, and conversation, and give himself over to all those abominations, which wicked men commit; shall that man, by virtue of his former inoffensive carriage, live? No; all his formerly professed righteousness shall be forgotten, and quite unregarded; and he shall be dealt with according to the present condition of his sin. So also verse 26.