7 If he has not aoppressed anyone, But has restored to the debtor his bpledge; Has robbed no one by violence, But has cgiven his bread to the hungry And covered the naked with dclothing;
8 If he has not1 exacted ausury Nor taken any increase, But has withdrawn his hand from iniquity Andbexecuted true judgment between man and man;
9If he has walked in My statutes And kept My judgments faithfully— He is just; He shall surely alive!” Says the Lord God.
10 “If he begets a son whois a robber Or aa shedder of blood, Who does any of these things
11 And does none of those duties, But has eaten1 on the mountains Or defiled his neighbor’s wife;
12 If he has oppressed the poor and needy, Robbed by violence, Not restored the pledge, Lifted his eyes to the idols, Oracommitted abomination;
13 If he has exacted usury Or taken increase— Shall he then live? He shall not live! If he has done any of these abominations, He shall surely die; aHis blood shall be upon him.
14 “If, however, he begets a son Who sees all the sins which his father has done, And considers but does not do likewise;
15aWho has not eaten1 on the mountains, Nor lifted his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, Nor defiled his neighbor’s wife;
16 Has not oppressed anyone, Nor withheld a pledge, Nor robbed by violence, But has given his bread to the hungry And covered the naked with clothing;
17Who has withdrawn his hand from1 the poor And not received usury or increase, But has executed My judgments And walked in My statutes— He shall not die for the iniquity of his father; He shall surely live!
18 “Asfor his father, Because he cruelly oppressed, Robbed his brother by violence, And did what is not good among his people, Behold, ahe shall die for his iniquity.
Turn and Live
19 “Yet you say, ‘Why ashould the son not bear the guilt of the father?’ Because the son has done what is lawful and right, and has kept all My statutes and observed them, he shall surely live.
20aThe soul who sins shall die. bThe son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. cThe righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, dand the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.
21 “But aif a wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed, keeps all My statutes, and does what is lawful and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die.
Live ... die - In the writings of Ezekiel there is a development of the meaning of "life" and "death." In the holy land the sanctions of divine government were in great degree temporal; so that the promise of "life" for "obedience," the threatening of "death" for "disobedience," in the Books of Moses, were regarded simply as temporal and national. In their exile this could not continue in its full extent, and the universality of the misfortune necessarily made men look deeper into the words of God. The word "soul" denotes a "person" viewed as an "individual," possessing the "life" which God breathed into man when he became a "living soul" Genesis 2:7; i. e., it distinguishes "personality" from "nationality," and this introduces that fresh and higher idea of "life" and "death," which is not so much "life" and "death" in a future state, as "life" and "death" as equivalent to communion with or separation from God - that idea of life and death which was explained by our Lord in the Gospel of John John 8, and by Paul in Rom. 8.
Other Barnes' Notes entries containing Ezekiel 18:9:
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