Bible Strands
Ezekiel 18:12
He oppresses the poor and needy; he commits robbery and does not restore a pledge. He lifts his eyes to idols; he commits abominations.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Ezekiel addresses the house of Israel concerning individual moral accountability during the exile. The prophet details the conduct of a specific sinner who violates both social and religious boundaries.
The words — The text highlights the oppressor's treatment of the vulnerable through הוֹנָה (ho.Nah, "he has oppressed") and גָזָל (ga.Zal, "he has robbed"). The failure to restore a חֲבֹל (cha.Vol, "pledge") underscores the deliberate exploitation of the עָנִי ('a.Ni, "poor") and אֶבְיוֹן ('ev.yOn, "needy").
The thread — The passage links economic exploitation to idolatry, a pattern repeated in Ezekiel 8:6 and 2 Kings 21:11 regarding the "great abominations" of Israel and Judah. Ezekiel 8:17 similarly records the house of Judah committing "abominations" without the "great" qualifier.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that social injustice and religious apostasy function as a single compound violation. It requires the reader to accept personal liability for each listed transgression rather than deflecting blame to ancestral patterns.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Hath oppressed the poor and needy, hath spoiled by violence, hath not restored the pledge, and hath lifted up his eyes to the idols, hath committed abomination,
Cross-references
- Ezekiel 8:6 “Son of man,” He said to me, “do you see what they are doing—the great abominations that the house of Israel is committing—to drive Me far from My sanctuary? Yet you will see even greater abominations.”
- Ezekiel 8:17 “Son of man,” He said to me, “do you see this? Is it not enough for the house of Judah to commit the abominations they are practicing here, that they must also fill the land with violence and continually provoke Me to anger? Look, they are even putting the branch to their nose!
- 2 Kings 21:11 “Since Manasseh king of Judah has committed all these abominations, acting more wickedly than the Amorites who preceded him, and with his idols has caused Judah to sin,
- Amos 4:1 Hear this word, you cows of Bashan on Mount Samaria, you women who oppress the poor and crush the needy, who say to your husbands, “Bring us more to drink.”
- Ezekiel 18:6 He does not eat at the mountain or look to the idols of the house of Israel. He does not defile his neighbor’s wife or approach a woman during her period.
- Ezekiel 18:16 He does not oppress another, or retain a pledge, or commit robbery. He gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with clothing.
- Zechariah 7:10 Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. And do not plot evil in your hearts against one another.’
- Leviticus 18:22 You must not lie with a man as with a woman; that is an abomination.
- Leviticus 18:26 But you are to keep My statutes and ordinances, and you must not commit any of these abominations—neither your native-born nor the foreigner who lives among you.
- 2 Kings 23:13 The king also desecrated the high places east of Jerusalem, to the south of the Mount of Corruption, which King Solomon of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.