Ezekiel 18:31 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Ezekiel 18:31
Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel?
to throw out · verb, hiphil imperative, 2nd person masculine plural
transgressions
פִּשְׁעֵיכֶם֙pish.'ei.Khem
H6588
a revolt (national · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine plural
transgressed
פְּשַׁעְתֶּ֣םpe.sha'.Tem
H6586
to break away (from just authority) · verb, qal perfect, 2nd person masculine plural
make
וַעֲשׂ֥וּva.'a.Su
H6213
to do or make · conjunction + verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine plural
new
חָדָ֖שׁcha.Dash
H2319
new · adjective, masculine singular absolute
heart
לֵ֥בlev
H3820
the heart · noun, common masculine singular absolute
new
חֲדָשָׁ֑הcha.da.Shah
H2319
new · adjective, feminine singular absolute
spirit
וְר֣וּחַve.Ru.ach
H7307
wind · conjunction + noun, common feminine singular absolute
die
תָמֻ֖תוּta.Mu.tu
H4191
to die (literally or figuratively) · verb, qal imperfect, 2nd person masculine plural
house
בֵּ֥יתbeit
H1004
a house (in the greatest variation of applications · noun, common masculine singular construct
Israel
יִשְׂרָאֵֽלYis.ra.'El
H3478
Jisrael · 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
Psalms 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
Ezekiel 36:26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will…
Ezekiel 11:19 And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give th…
Romans 8:13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
Isaiah 1:16-17 Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;
Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable,…
Ezekiel 33:11 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:…
Deuteronomy 30:19 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose li…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Ezekiel 18:30–end
We have here the conclusion and application of this whole matter. After a fair trial at the bar of right reason the verdict is brought in on God's side; it appears that his ways are equal. Judgment therefore is next to be given; and one would think it should be a judgment of condemnation, nothing short of Go, you cursed, into everlasting fire. But, behold, a miracle of mercy; the day of grace and divine patience is yet lengthened out; and therefore, though God will at last judge every one according to his ways, yet he waits to be gracious, and closes all with a call to repentance and a promise of pardon upon repentance.
I. Here are four necessary duties that we are called to, all amounting t…
Cast away from you--for the cause of your evil rests with yourselves; your sole way of escape is to be reconciled to God (Eph 4:22-23).
make you a new heart--This shows, not what men can do, but what they ought to do: what God requires of us. God alone can make us a new heart (Eze 11:19; Eze 36:26-27). The command to do what men cannot themselves do is designed to drive them (instead of laying the blame, as the Jews did, elsewhere rather than on themselves) to feel their own helplessness, and to seek God's Holy Spirit (Psa 51:11-12). Thus the outward exhortation is, as it were, the organ or instrument which God uses for conferring grace. So we may say with AUGUSTINE, "Give what thou requir…
Cast away - With a holy violence, dash away every transgression and incentive to it.
Make you a new heart - Call upon God for it, and he will give it: for as sure as you earnestly call on God through Christ to save you, so surely you shall be saved; and the effect will so speedily follow, that God is pleased to attribute that in some sort to yourselves, which is done by his grace alone; because ye earnestly call upon him for it, come in the right way to receive it, and are determined never to rest till you have it.
For why will ye die - Who should you go to hell while the kingdom of God is open to receive you? Why should you be the devil's slaves, when ye may be Christ's freemen! Why Will Ye…
The Church Fathers
Why are you dying? Do not go into the trap. These are the reminders given to the believers, that by walking in them and striving in the commandments they will do the works worthy of eternal life.
"Make for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit" that you may become a subject of joy for the citizens of heaven. For if there is joy "over one sinner who repents," according to the Gospel, how much more will the salvation of so many souls gladden the blessed saints? You have entered on a good and glorious course: run the holy race in good earnest.
(Verse 31.) Turn away and repent from all your iniquities, and iniquity will not be your downfall. Cast away all your transgressions, in which you have transgressed. This message is specifically directed towards the Israelites, urging them to repent and abandon their iniquities or transgressions against God. However, it can also be understood as applicable to both the Israelites and the crowd of Gentiles, encouraging them to forsake their vices and turn to the one who can heal their brokenness. And make for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. Leaving behind the old letter, live in the newness of the spirit. The new heart of the Israelites is to believe in Him whom they had previously denied. The new heart of the gentiles is to abandon idols and despise the worship of the dead, and to believe in Him who is the God of the living. And why will you die, house of Israel? It is better, as we have said above, to accept this exhortation in which it is written: Repent and do penance, regarding the person of the Jews whom He does not want to die, and to whom He now speaks: why will you die, house of Israel, who have the fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, of whom it is written: God of the living, not of the dead (Mark 12:27). Why will you die by your own fault, when you owe your life to the merit of the fathers and my mercy?
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
Condescension Of God · Expostulates with backsliding Israel — Expostulates with backsliding Israel
Heart · RENEWED — RENEWED
Judgment · ACCORDING TO OPPORTUNITY AND WORKS — ACCORDING TO OPPORTUNITY AND WORKS
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).
Cast away from you all your transgressions whereby ye have transgressed,.... As unprofitable and pernicious, to be abhorred and abstained from, and to be cast off, as loads and burdens upon them. Kimchi interprets it of the punishment of their sins, which might be cast off, or escaped, by repentance; perhaps it is best to interpret it of the casting away of their idols, by which they transgressed; see Ezekiel 20:7;
and make you a new heart and a new spirit; which the Lord elsewhere promises to give, and he does give to his own elect; See Gill on Ezekiel 11:19; and if here to be understood of a regenerated heart and spirit, in which are new principles of light, life, and love, grace and holi…
Ezekiel 18:31
31. Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel?
31. Projicite a vobis omnes iniquitates in quibus inique egistis: et facite vobis cor novum, et spiritum novum: et quare moriemini domus Israel?
Ezekiel again exhorts the people to leave off complaining, and to acknowledge that there is no remedy for their evils but to be reconciled to God. But that cannot be done unless they repent. For God was not hostile to them in vain; nor did he, after the manner of men, persecute with hatred the innocent, and those who did not deserve it. Hence it was necessary to seek God's…
The vindication of the ways of God might have formed a fitting close to this divine oracle. But as the prophet was not merely concerned with the correction of the error contained in the proverb which was current among the people, but still more with the rescue of the people themselves from destruction, he follows up the refutation with another earnest call to repentance. - Eze 18:27. If a wicked man turneth from his wickedness which he hath done, and doeth right and righteousness, he will keep his soul alive. Eze 18:28. If he seeth and turneth from all his transgressions which he hath committed, he shall live and not die. Eze 18:29. And the house of Israel saith, The way of the Lord is not r…
This chapter concludes with a passionate appeal to the people of Israel to turn back and live. It was not too late for them to repent, turn from their sins, and be forgiven. God promised a new heart and a new spirit (11:19; 36:26) to all who would turn from their rebellion and humbly come to him.
Rashi on Ezekiel 18:30
repent and cause others to repent Heb. שּׁוּבוּ וְהָשִּׁיבוּ, you repent and you cause others to repent (tourner, retourner in French), turn [others], return.
