Ezekiel 3:20

Ezekiel 3:20

18 When I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life, that same wicked man ^ashall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand.

19 Yet, if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; ^abut you have delivered your soul.

20 “Again, when a ^arighteous man turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die; because you did not give him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood I will require at your hand.

21 Nevertheless if you warn the righteous man that the righteous should not sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live because he took warning; also you will have delivered your soul.”

22 ^aThen the hand of the Lord was upon me there, and He said to me, “Arise, go out ^binto the plain, and there I shall talk with you.”

23 So I arose and went out into the plain, and behold, ^athe glory of the Lord stood there, like the glory which I ^bsaw by the River Chebar; ^cand I fell on my face.

Commentaries:

Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown

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righteous . . . turn from . . . righteousness—not one "righteous" as to the root and spirit of regeneration (Psalms 89:33; Psalms 138:8; Isaiah 26:12; Isaiah 27:3; John 10:28; Philippians 1:6), but as to its outward appearance and performances. So the "righteous" (Proverbs 18:17; Matthew 9:13). As in Ezekiel 3:19 the minister is required to lead the wicked to good, so in Ezekiel 3:20 he is to confirm the well-disposed in their duty.

commit iniquity—that is, give himself up wholly to it (I John 3:8-9), for even the best often fall, but not wilfully and habitually.

I lay a stumbling-block—not that God tempts to sin (James 1:13-14), but God gives men over to judicial blindness, and to their own corruptions (Psalms 9:16-17; Psalms 94:23) when they "like not to retain God in their knowledge" (Romans 1:24, Romans 1:26); just as, on the contrary, God makes "the way of the righteous plain" (Proverbs 4:11-12; Proverbs 15:19), so that they do "not stumble." CALVIN refers "stumbling-block" not to the guilt, but to its punishment; "I bring ruin on him." The former is best. Ahab, after a kind of righteousness (I Kings 21:27-29), relapsed and consulted lying spirits in false prophets; so God permitted one of these to be his "stumbling-block," both to sin and its corresponding punishment (I Kings 22:21-23).

his blood will I require— (Hebrews 13:17).

**Other Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown entries containing Ezekiel 3:20:**

Ezekiel 3:20
Ezekiel 33:2
Ezekiel 33:11
Ezekiel 33:12
Acts 20:26

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Ezekiel 3:21 >>

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