Bible Strands
Ezekiel 18:14
Now suppose this son has a son who sees all the sins his father has committed, considers them, and does not do likewise:
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Ezekiel addresses the exiled house of Israel during a period of communal complaint about inherited punishment. He introduces a hypothetical case to demonstrate that moral accountability rests on the individual rather than ancestral lineage.
The words — וַיַּרְא (va.yar') translates literally to "and he sees/considered," while חַטֹּאות אָבִיו (chatto't aviv) means "the sins of his father." These terms establish the grandson's conscious observation and deliberate rejection of his predecessor's transgressions.
The thread — The pattern of generational reckoning continues in Ezekiel 18:13 where the father dies for usury, while the grandson's avoidance of idolatry and sexual immorality in verse 15 completes the righteous profile. The wisdom tradition similarly notes a father's joy in a righteous son (Proverbs 23:24) and the covenant warning against inherited iniquity (Exodus 20:5).
Why it lands — The text demands personal examination of inherited patterns and a conscious choice to break cycles of disobedience. It places the responsibility for moral direction squarely on the individual rather than on ancestral precedent.
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
Now, lo, if he beget a son, that seeth all his father’s sins which he hath done, and considereth, and doeth not such like,
Cross-references
- 2 Chronicles 34:21 “Go and inquire of the LORD for me and for those remaining in Israel and Judah concerning the words in the book that has been found. For great is the wrath of the LORD that has been poured out on us because our fathers have not kept the word of the LORD by doing all that is written in this book.”
- Proverbs 23:24 The father of a righteous man will greatly rejoice, and he who fathers a wise son will delight in him.
- 2 Chronicles 29:3 In the first month of the first year of his reign, Hezekiah opened and repaired the doors of the house of the LORD.
- Psalms 119:59 I considered my ways and turned my steps to Your testimonies.
- Proverbs 17:21 A man fathers a fool to his own grief; the father of a fool has no joy.
- Isaiah 44:19 And no one considers in his heart, no one has the knowledge or insight to say, “I burned half of it in the fire, and I baked bread on its coals; I roasted meat and I ate. Shall I make something detestable with the rest of it? Shall I bow down to a block of wood?”
- Jeremiah 8:6 I have listened and heard; they do not speak what is right. No one repents of his wickedness, asking, ‘What have I done?’ Everyone has pursued his own course like a horse charging into battle.
- Jeremiah 9:14 Instead, they have followed the stubbornness of their hearts and gone after the Baals, as their fathers taught them.”
- Jeremiah 44:17 Instead, we will do everything we vowed to do: We will burn incense to the Queen of Heaven and offer drink offerings to her, just as we, our fathers, our kings, and our officials did in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. At that time we had plenty of food and good things, and we saw no disaster.
- Ezekiel 18:10 Now suppose that man has a violent son, who sheds blood or does any of these things,