Bible Strands
Ezekiel 18:13
He engages in usury and takes excess interest. Will this son live? He will not! Since he has committed all these abominations, he will surely die; his blood will be on his own head.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The prophet Ezekiel addresses the exiled house of Israel, using a hypothetical wicked man to illustrate individual moral accountability. This verse occurs mid-discourse as he catalogs the specific sins that warrant death.
The words — The text highlights נֶשֶׁךְ (ne·shekh), meaning "interest" or "usury," and תַרְבִית (tar·bîṯ), meaning "excess interest" or "increase." These terms describe the exploitative lending practices that characterize the man's conduct.
The thread — The prohibition against charging interest to the poor appears in Exodus 22:25, while Ezekiel 18:8 explicitly contrasts this wicked man with a righteous one who "does not engage in usury or take excess interest." The text frames usury as one of several "abominations" that bring the perpetrator to an early grave.
Why it lands — The text states that the man will not live because he has committed these specific sins, placing the consequence entirely on his own head. It demands a reader acknowledge that personal accountability, not generational guilt, determines the outcome.
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 given forth upon usury, and hath taken increase: shall he then live? he shall not live: he hath done all these abominations; he shall surely die; his blood shall be upon him.
Cross-references
- Exodus 22:25 If you lend money to one of My people among you who is poor, you must not act as a creditor to him; you are not to charge him interest.
- Leviticus 20:9 If anyone curses his father or mother, he must be put to death. He has cursed his father or mother; his blood shall be upon him.
- Ezekiel 18:8 He does not engage in usury or take excess interest, but he withholds his hand from iniquity and executes true justice between men.
- Leviticus 20:11 If a man lies with his father’s wife, he has uncovered his father’s nakedness. Both must surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.
- Leviticus 20:27 A man or a woman who is a medium or spiritist must surely be put to death. They shall be stoned; their blood is upon them.’”
- Ezekiel 3:18 If I say to the wicked man, ‘You will surely die,’ but you do not warn him or speak out to warn him from his wicked way to save his life, that wicked man will die in his iniquity, and I will hold you responsible for his blood.
- Ezekiel 18:17 He withholds his hand from harming the poor and takes no interest or usury. He keeps My ordinances and follows My statutes. Such a man will not die for his father’s iniquity. He will surely live.
- Ezekiel 18:24 But if a righteous man turns from his righteousness and practices iniquity, committing the same abominations as the wicked, will he live? None of the righteous acts he did will be remembered. Because of the unfaithfulness and sin he has committed, he will die.
- Ezekiel 18:28 Because he considered and turned from all the transgressions he had committed, he will surely live; he will not die.
- Ezekiel 18:32 For I take no pleasure in anyone’s death, declares the Lord GOD. So repent and live!