Ezekiel 18:25
in Ezekiel 18Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Hear now, O house of Israel: Is it My way that is unjust? Is it not your ways that are unjust?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal. Hear now, O house of Israel: Is not my way equal? are not your ways unequal?
KJV
Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal. Hear now, O house of Israel; Is not my way equal? are not your ways unequal?
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This verse in Ezekiel 18
Commentary
5 notes on this verse(Verse 25.) And you said: The way of the Lord is not fair. Hear, O house of Israel: Is not my way fair? Are not your ways unfair? Give reasons why the judgment of the Lord is just. Do you think, he says, that I am unfair, that I will render the sins of the fathers to the children (Deut. 24); and while others eat sour grapes, will the teeth of others be set on edge (Jerem. 31)? Behold, each person dies in their own sin, and is made alive in their own righteousness.
This site's exposition
Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal.
on Ezekiel 18:25-29
The exiles complain that God's way is unequal, and the answer, repeated twice almost word for word, turns the charge back on the objectors, are not your ways unequal? Fairbairn reads the doubled exchange as evidence the complaint was a live grievance among the exiles, worth answering fully rather than dismissing in one line. The argument's method throughout has been the same, plain restatement of the standard rather than new argument, since the standard itself is the whole answer.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
on Ezekiel 18:24-26
Here is, (1.) The character of an apostate, that turns away from his righteousness. He never was in sincerity a righteous man (as appears by that of the apostle, 1 John ii. 19 , If they had been of us, they would, no doubt, have continued with us ), but he passed for a righteous man.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Equal - literally, “weighed out, balanced.” Man’s ways are arbitrary, God’s ways are governed by a self-imposed law, which makes all consistent and harmonious.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Their plea for saying, "The way of the Lord is not equal," was that God treated different classes in a different way. But it was really their way that was unequal, since living in sin they expected to be dealt with as if they were righteous.
The words behind it
16 Hebrew wordsEvery 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.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַאֲמַרְתֶּ֕ם | vaamartem | and you say | H559 → | 5305 times |
| לֹ֥א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| יִתָּכֵ֖ן | yitakhen | it is correct | H8505 → | 18 times |
| דֶּ֣רֶךְ | derekh | [the] way of | H1870 → | 707 times |
| אֲדֹנָ֑י | ʾadonai | [the] Lord | H136 → | 440 times |
| שִׁמְעוּ־ | shimu- | listen | H8085 → | 1159 times |
| נָא֙ | na' | please | H4994 → | 404 times |
| בֵּ֣ית | beit | O house of | H1004 → | 2046 times |
| יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל | yisrael | Israel | H3478 → | 2507 times |
| הֲדַרְכִּי֙ | hadarki | ¿ way my | H1870 → | 707 times |
| לֹ֣א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| יִתָּכֵ֔ן | yitakhen | is it correct | H8505 → | 18 times |
| הֲלֹ֥א | halo' | ¿ not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| דַרְכֵיכֶ֖ם | darkheikhem | ways your | H1870 → | 707 times |
| לֹ֥א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| יִתָּכֵֽנוּ׃ | yitakhenu | are they correct | H8505 → | 18 times |
וַאֲמַרְתֶּ֕םand you say
vaamartemH559 →5305 times
לֹ֥אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
יִתָּכֵ֖ןit is correct
yitakhenH8505 →18 times
דֶּ֣רֶךְ[the] way of
derekhH1870 →707 times
אֲדֹנָ֑י[the] Lord
ʾadonaiH136 →440 times
שִׁמְעוּ־listen
shimu-H8085 →1159 times
נָא֙please
na'H4994 →404 times
בֵּ֣יתO house of
beitH1004 →2046 times
יִשְׂרָאֵ֔לIsrael
yisraelH3478 →2507 times
הֲדַרְכִּי֙¿ way my
hadarkiH1870 →707 times
לֹ֣אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
יִתָּכֵ֔ןis it correct
yitakhenH8505 →18 times
הֲלֹ֥א¿ not
halo'H3808 →5168 times
דַרְכֵיכֶ֖םways your
darkheikhemH1870 →707 times
לֹ֥אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
יִתָּכֵֽנוּ׃are they correct
yitakhenuH8505 →18 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach 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
Jeremiah 12:1Righteous are You, O LORD, when I plead before You. Yet about Your judgments I wish to contend with You: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live…
it leads to
- Malachi 3:15
So now we call the arrogant blessed. Not only do evildoers prosper, they even test God and escape.’”
- Psalms 92:7
that though the wicked sprout like grass, and all evildoers flourish, they will be forever destroyed.
- Psalms 37:1
Do not fret over those who do evil; do not envy those who do wrong.
- Psalms 51:4
Against You, You only, have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight, so that You may be proved right when You speak and blameless when You judge.
- Psalms 37:35
I have seen a wicked, ruthless man flourishing like a well-rooted native tree,
- Malachi 3:15
Through
Genesis 18:25Far be it from You to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Will not the…
it leads to
- Job 8:20
Behold, God does not reject the blameless, nor will He strengthen the hand of evildoers.
- Isaiah 3:10–11
Tell the righteous it will be well with them, for they will enjoy the fruit of their labor.
- Job 8:3
Does God pervert justice? Does the Almighty pervert what is right?
- Job 8:20
About Ezekiel
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Patrick Fairbairn, An Exposition of Ezekiel.