Ezekiel 18:4
in Ezekiel 18Behold, every soul belongs to Me; both father and son are Mine. The soul who sins is the one who will die.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
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.
KJV
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.
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This verse in Ezekiel 18
Commentary
16 notes on this verse(Verse 3-4) As I live, says the Lord, there will not be for you any longer this parable as a proverb in Israel. Behold, all souls are mine: the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine. The soul that sins, it shall die. (LXX: As I live, says the Lord Adonai, if it will continue to be said, this parable in Israel, because all souls are mine. Just as the soul of the father, so the soul of the son is mine. The soul that sins, it shall die.)
This site's exposition
The word of the Lord came unto me again, saying,
on Ezekiel 18:1-4
The chapter names a proverb, the fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge. Ezekiel is sent to retire it by name. Gill reads the thesis that follows, the soul that sinneth, it shall die, as the whole chapter's argument compressed into one line.
This site's exposition
every soul belongs to Me
The claim of ownership comes first, and the sentence on the soul who sins rests on it. Father and son are two souls, each His. Ambrose counted this death, the death due to sin, as the first of three kinds of death.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers5 voices
There are three kinds of death. One is the death due to sin, concerning which it was written, the soul that sins shall itself die." Another death is the mystical, when someone dies to sin and lives to God; concerning this the apostle likewise says, or we were buried with him by means of baptism into death. The third is the death by which we complete our lifespan with its functions—I mean the separation of the soul and body.
This whole passage is so constructed as to show that bad children are not given relief because of good parents or good children oppressed because of bad parents. So having first established this absolutely true and rock-firm principle on our own account, we go on now to examine what our obligations are in our relations with others; and here we must be very careful to distinguish between the effect of salvation, which we must seek for ourselves, and the consideration that we must show to our neighbors. If you are good, you are good with your own goodness, not with someone else's. And yet through that goodness of yours with which you are good you also rejoice over another's goodness together with him, not by exchanging goodnesses but by exchanging love.
Show me a body that has never been sick or one that is sure of enjoying good health forever after sickness, and I will show you a soul that has never sinned.
The soul therefore that has not sinned shall live. Neither the virtues nor the vices of parents are imputed to their children. God takes account of us only from the time when we are born anew in Christ.
The soul dies to the Lord, not through natural infirmity but through the sickness caused by guilt. This type of death is not the release from this life but is the fall resulting from sin.
8 more voices on this verse
The Church Fathers1 voice
The spiritual penalty always pertained only to the sinner.
The Reformation1 voice
Since the prophets thus gathered up the iniquities of their fathers, impious men scattered abroad their witticisms -- then we are to pay the penalty of our fathers' sins: they provoked God, but we suffer the punishment which they deserved.
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Sin is the act of the soul, the body being only the instrument of unrighteousness; it is called the sin of the soul, Mic. vi. And therefore the punishment of sin is the tribulation and the anguish of the soul, Rom. ii. Secondly, The righteous man that perseveres in his righteousness shall certainly live.
Behold - There can be no colour of partial judgment in the proceedings of God, who is equally God to all. The soul - The person, whether father or son, shall die, shall bear his own punishment.
Behold, all souls are mine,....
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
"The soul that sinneth it shall die." The curse descending from father to son assumes guilt shared in by the son; there is a natural tendency in the child to follow the sin of his father, and so he shares in the father's punishment: hence the principles of God's government, involved in Ex 20:5 and Jer 15:4, are justified.
All souls are mine - Equally so; I am the Father of the spirits of all flesh, and shall deal impartially with the whole. The soul that sinneth, it shall die - None shall die for another’s crimes, none shall be saved by another’s righteousness. Here is the general judgment relative to the righteousness and unrighteousness of men, and the influence of one man’s state on that of another; particularly in respect to their moral conduct.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
All souls are mine - Man is not simply to ascribe his existence to earthly parents, but to acknowledge as his Father Him who created man in His own image, and who gave and gives him the spirit of life. The relation of father to son is merged in the common relation of all (father and son alike) as sons to their heavenly Father.
The words behind it
15 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הֵ֤ן | hen | here! | H2005 → | 316 times |
| כָּל־ | kol- | all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| הַנְּפָשׁוֹת֙ | hanefashot | <the> lives | H5315 → | 754 times |
| לִ֣י | li | [belong] to me | ||
| הֵ֔נָּה | henah | they | H2007 → | 30 times |
| כְּנֶ֧פֶשׁ | kenefesh | as [the] life of | H5315 → | 754 times |
| הָאָ֛ב | haav | the parent | H1 → | 1212 times |
| וּכְנֶ֥פֶשׁ | ukhenefesh | and as [the] life of | H5315 → | 754 times |
| הַבֵּ֖ן | haben | the child | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| לִי־ | li- | [belong] to me | ||
| הֵ֑נָּה | henah | they | H2007 → | 30 times |
| הַנֶּ֥פֶשׁ | hanefesh | the soul | H5315 → | 754 times |
| הַחֹטֵ֖את | hachotet | which sins | H2398 → | 238 times |
| הִ֥יא | hi' | it | H1931 → | 1879 times |
| תָמֽוּת׃ ס | tamut | it will die | H4191 → | 839 times |
הֵ֤ןhere!
henH2005 →316 times
כָּל־all
kol-H3605 →5413 times
הַנְּפָשׁוֹת֙<the> lives
hanefashotH5315 →754 times
לִ֣י[belong] to me
li
הֵ֔נָּהthey
henahH2007 →30 times
כְּנֶ֧פֶשׁas [the] life of
kenefeshH5315 →754 times
הָאָ֛בthe parent
haavH1 →1212 times
וּכְנֶ֥פֶשׁand as [the] life of
ukhenefeshH5315 →754 times
הַבֵּ֖ןthe child
habenH1121 →4930 times
לִי־[belong] to me
li-
הֵ֑נָּהthey
henahH2007 →30 times
הַנֶּ֥פֶשׁthe soul
hanefeshH5315 →754 times
הַחֹטֵ֖אתwhich sins
hachotetH2398 →238 times
הִ֥יאit
hi'H1931 →1879 times
תָמֽוּת׃ סit will die
tamutH4191 →839 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
Romans 6:23For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
it leads to
- John 3:36
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. Whoever rejects the Son will not see life. Instead, the wrath of God remains on him.”
- Romans 5:12
Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, so also death was passed on to all men, because all sinned.
- James 1:15
Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
- John 6:40
For it is My Father’s will that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”
- Ezekiel 18:20
The soul who sins is the one who will die. A son will not bear the iniquity of his father, and a father will not bear the iniquity of his son. The righteousness of…
- John 3:36
Through
Hebrews 12:9Furthermore, we have all had earthly fathers who disciplined us, and we respected them. Should we not much more submit to the Father of our spirits and live?
it leads to
- Numbers 27:16
“May the LORD, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Numbers 27:16
Through
Ezekiel 18:20The soul who sins is the one who will die. A son will not bear the iniquity of his father, and a father will not bear the iniquity of his son. The righteousness of…
it leads to
- 2 Kings 14:6
Yet he did not put the sons of the murderers to death, but acted according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, where the LORD commanded: “Fathers must not…
- Deuteronomy 24:16
Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor children for their fathers; each is to die for his own sin.
- 2 Kings 14:6
Where this verse is studied
About Ezekiel
This page draws on 15 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Ambrose of Milan, DEATH AS A GOOD 2:3; Ambrose of Milan, On the Death of Satyrus 2.36; Augustine of Hippo, SERMON 35:2; Augustine of Hippo, LETTER 1*.1; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel; Jerome, Against the Pelagians 3.11; Jerome, LETTERS 60:8; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.