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Ezekiel 18:13

in Ezekiel 18

He engages in usury and takes excess interest. Will this son live? He will not! Since he has committed all these abominations, he will surely die; his blood will be on his own head.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

hath given forth upon interest, and hath taken increase; shall he then live? he shall not live: he hath done all these abominations; he shall surely die; his blood shall be upon him.

KJV

Hath given forth upon usury, and hath taken increase: shall he then live? he shall not live: he hath done all these abominations; he shall surely die; his blood shall be upon him.

This verse in Ezekiel 18

Commentary

8 notes on this verse

A commentator

Jerome

Commentary on Ezekiel · Written before 420.

(Ver. 10 and following) But if he has fathered a son who is a robber, shedding blood, and he has committed one of these (or, as the Septuagint has translated, if he has committed sins: if he has not walked in the way of his righteous father), and he does all these things, not abstaining from them, but rather feasting on the mountains, defiling the wife of his neighbor, oppressing the needy and the poor, seizing plunder, not returning pledges, lifting his eyes to idols, committing abominations, engaging in usury, and taking more, will he live?

This site's exposition

If he beget a son that is a robber, a shedder of blood

on Ezekiel 18:10-13

The just man's son may turn violent and idolatrous, and the verdict shifts. Clarke reads the case as answering the sour-grape proverb, a righteous father's merit does not carry a wicked son past his own guilt. The phrase his blood shall be upon him fixes responsibility on the man himself.

This site's exposition

his blood will be on his own head

Wesley notes that the Hebrew word for blood is plural here. It covers the blood of the innocent the son killed and his own life, forfeited by the killing. Clarke asks whether a father's holiness could be credited to such a son, and answers no.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

'Tis plural, bloods; both the blood of the innocent which he murdered, and his own blood which thereby he forfeited; the blood of his own soul and life: that is the whole blame of his misery in time and eternity, shall lie upon himself.
Hath given forth upon usury, and hath taken increase,....

The Nineteenth Century3 voices

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

Shall he then live? - Because his father was a righteous man, shall the father’s holiness be imputed to him? No! He shad surely die; his blood shall be upon him - He shall suffer for his own crimes.

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

His pious parentage, so far from excusing, aggravates his guilt. robber--or literally, "a breaker," namely, through all constraints of right. doeth the like to any one--The Hebrew and the parallel (Eze 18:18) require us to translate rather, "doeth to his brother any of these things," namely, the things which follow in Eze 18:11, &c. [MAURER].

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

shall he . . . live?--because of the merits of his father; answering, by contrast, to "die for the iniquity of his father" (Eze 18:17). his blood shall be upon him--The cause of his bloody death shall rest with himself; God is not to blame, but is vindicated as just in punishing him.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

On the verses either side of this one

and sees and does not do likewise He sees with his heart that it is not good to do so, et il apercut in French, he realized.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Ezekiel 18:14:1, via Sefaria, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

17 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • בַּנֶּ֧שֶׁךְfor <the> interest

    baneshekhH5392 →12 times

  • נָתַ֛ןhe has lent

    natanH5414 →2011 times

  • וְתַרְבִּ֥יתand interest

    vetarbitH8636 →6 times

  • לָקַ֖חhe has taken

    lakachH3947 →966 times

  • וָחָ֑יand will he live?

    vachaiH2421 →282 times

  • לֹ֣אnot

    lo'H3808 →5168 times

  • יִֽחְיֶ֗הhe will live

    yichyehH2421 →282 times

  • אֵ֣ת<obj.>

    ʾetH853 →10935 times

  • כָּל־all

    kol-H3605 →5413 times

  • הַתּוֹעֵב֤וֹתthe abominations

    hatoevotH8441 →117 times

  • הָאֵ֙לֶּה֙<the> these

    haelehH428 →746 times

  • עָשָׂ֔הhe has done

    ʾasahH6213 →2628 times

  • מ֣וֹתcertainly <die>

    motH4191 →839 times

  • יוּמָ֔תhe will be put to death

    yumatH4191 →839 times

  • דָּמָ֖יוblood<s> his

    damavH1818 →360 times

  • בּ֥וֹon him

    bo

  • יִהְיֶֽה׃it will be

    yihyehH1961 →3559 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Ezekiel 18:32

    For I take no pleasure in anyone’s death, declares the Lord GOD. So repent and live!

    it leads to

    • 2 Peter 3:9

      The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise as some understand slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance.

    • Ezekiel 18:23

      Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Lord GOD. Wouldn’t I prefer that he turn from his ways and live?

    • Ezekiel 33:11

      Say to them: ‘As surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked should turn from their ways and live.…

  • Through

    Acts 18:6

    But when they opposed and insulted him, he shook out his garments and told them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent of it. From now on I will go to…

    it leads to

    • Ezekiel 33:4

      Then if anyone hears the sound of the horn but fails to heed the warning, and the sword comes and takes him away, his blood will be on his own head.

    • 2 Samuel 1:16

      For David had said to the Amalekite, “Your blood be on your own head because your own mouth has testified against you, saying, ‘I killed the LORD’s anointed.’”

    • Ezekiel 33:8–9

      If I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you will surely die,’ but you do not speak out to dissuade him from his way, then that wicked man will die in his iniquity,…

  • Through

    Exodus 22:25

    If you lend money to one of My people among you who is poor, you must not act as a creditor to him; you are not to charge him interest.

    it leads to

    • Psalms 15:5

      who lends his money without interest and refuses a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things will never be shaken.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Leviticus 25:35–37

      Now if your countryman becomes destitute and cannot support himself among you, then you are to help him as you would a foreigner or stranger, so that he can continue to live among you.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

Where this verse is studied

About Ezekiel

Ezekiel’s Vision of the Valley of Dry Bones, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Ezekiel’s Vision of the Valley of Dry Bones, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament.