an oracle · noun, common masculine singular construct
Lord
אֲדֹנָ֣י'a.do.Nai
H136
the Lord (used as a proper name of God only) · proper noun, a title
GOD
יְהוִ֑הYah.weh
H3069
YHWH · proper noun, a title
use
מְשֹׁ֛לme.Shol
H4911
to liken · verb, qal infinitive construct
proverb
הַמָּשָׁ֥לha.ma.Shal
H4912
properly · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
Israel
בְּיִשְׂרָאֵֽלbe.Yis.ra.'El
H3478
Jisrael · preposition + proper noun, a place name
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Ezekiel 18:19-20 Yet say ye, Why? doth not the son bear the iniquity of the father? When the son hath done that which is lawful and right, and hath kept all…
Ezekiel 18:30 Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord GOD. Repent, and turn yourselves from all you…
Ezekiel 33:11-20 Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live:…
Ezekiel 36:31-32 Then shall ye remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall lothe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquit…
Romans 3:19 Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the worl…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Ezekiel 18:1-9
Evil manners, we say, beget good laws; and in like manner sometimes unjust reflections occasion just vindications; evil proverbs beget good prophecies. Here is,
I. An evil proverb commonly used by the Jews in their captivity. We had one before (Eze 12:22) and a reply to it; here we have another. That sets God's justice at defiance: "The days are prolonged and every vision fails; the threatenings are a jest." This charges him with injustice, as if the judgments executed were a wrong: "You use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, now that it is laid waste by the judgments of God, saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children's teeth are set on edge; we are punished for the…
ye shall not have occasion any more to use this proverb--because I will let it be seen by the whole world in the very fact that you are not righteous, as ye fancy yourselves, but wicked, and that you suffer only the just penalty of your guilt; while the elect righteous remnant alone escapes.
Adam Clarke on Ezekiel 18:3
As I live, saith the Lord God, ye shall not have occasion any more to use this proverb in Israel - I will now, by this present declaration, settle this question for ever. And hence God has sworn to what follows. After this, who will dare to doubt the judgment pronounced?
John Gill on Ezekiel 18:3
As I live, saith the Lord God,.... This is a form of an oath; the Lord here swears by his life, by himself, because he could swear by no greater, Hebrews 6:13; and it expresses how displeased he was with the above proverb, and how much he resented it, as well as the certainty of what follows; which, it might be depended on, would be assuredly done, since the Lord not only said it, but swore unto it:
ye shall not have occasion any more to use this proverb in Israel; signifying that he would no longer defer the execution of his judgments, but immediately bring them upon them; so that or the future there would be no use of the proverb; no occasion to make mention of it in the next generation;…
The Church Fathers
(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.) What this means, 'I live,' says the Lord, and [it is] a parable or proverb, we have explained more fully above: which will never be said in Israel, but among those who do not have knowledge of God, nor can perceive the truth. 'All,' he says, 'are souls of mine;' according to [their] nature, not according to merit: as Moses was called a man of God, about whom it is written: 'The prayer of Moses, man of God' (Deut. XXXIII, 1). And Elijah, who spoke to the prince of fifty men: 'And if I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven upon you, and upon fifty men' (IV Kings I, 12). But a man who is guilty of sin and a son of iniquity is not called a man of God, just as servants and slaves of God are called, of whom it cannot be said, 'Everyone who commits sin is a servant of sin' (John 8:34). And again, 'For by whom a person is overcome, of him also he is the servant' (2 Peter 2:19). Just as the sins of children do not harm their fathers, so the sins of fathers do not pass on to their children; but the soul that sins, it shall die: not by the abolition of its substance, but by its separation from Him who says, 'I am the life' (John 14:6). And elsewhere he says: Everyone who lives and believes in me will not die forever (John 11:26). And: Amen, amen I say to you: whoever keeps my word will not see death forever (John 8:51). For our life is hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3); and that will be fulfilled which is written: Amen, amen I say to you: whoever hears my word and believes in him who sent me, has eternal life; and does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life (John 5:24). But, that which is said by Balaam, 'Let my soul die among the souls of the just' (Numbers 23:10), has this meaning: that he desires to die to the world and to sin, and to live with the souls of the just, whose life is Christ, and they can sing: 'I will please the Lord in the land of the living' (Psalm 114:9). For…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Proverbs · MISCELLANY OF — MISCELLANY OF
Responsibility · ACCORDING TO PRIVILEGE — ACCORDING TO PRIVILEGE
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Ezekiel 18:1-4
1. The word of the LORD came unto me again, saying,
1. Et fuit sermo Iehova, ad me, dicendo,
2. What mean ye, that ye use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge?
2. Quid vobis? vos proverbiantes proverbium [199] super terram Israel, dicendo, Patres comederunt omphacem, [200] et dentes filiorum obstupescunt.
3. As I live, saith the Lord GOD, ye shall not have occasion any more to use this proverb in Israel.
3. Vivo ego, dicit Dominator Iehovah, Si erit vobis amplius [201] qui utatur hoc dicterio [202] in Israele.
4. Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the…
In the word of God contained in this chapter, the delusion that God visits the sins of fathers upon innocent children is overthrown, and the truth is clearly set forth that every man bears the guilt and punishment of his own sins (Eze 18:1-4). The righteous lives through his righteousness (Eze 18:5-9), but cannot save his wicked son thereby (Eze 18:10-13); whilst the son who avoids the sins and wickedness of his father, will live through his own righteousness (Eze 18:14-20). The man who repents and avoids sin is not even charged with his own sin; and, on the other hand, the man who forsakes the way of righteousness, and gives himself up to unrighteousness, will not be protected from death ev…
The Lord’s response to the proverb of 18:1-2 was to categorically deny that it fit the situation. To the contrary, the Lord consistently punishes only those who are guilty (Deut 24:16). God is unswervingly just.
Rashi on Ezekiel 18:3
shall no longer use this parable Heb. מְשֹּׁל, like לִמְשֹּׁל [the infinitive].
