Bible Strands
Ezekiel 18:19
Yet you may ask, ‘Why shouldn’t the son bear the iniquity of his father?’ Since the son has done what is just and right, carefully observing all My statutes, he will surely live.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The prophet Ezekiel addresses the exiled house of Israel to correct their complaint about inherited guilt. He speaks this to shift focus from ancestral blame to personal accountability before God.
The words — The text highlights נָשָׂא (na.Sa'), translated literally as "has he borne," and מַדֻּ֛עַ (ma.Du.a'), meaning "why?" These words frame the rhetorical question challenging the assumption that guilt transfers across generations.
The thread — This theme of non-transferable guilt appears in Ezekiel 18:20, which explicitly states that a son will not bear the iniquity of his father. It contrasts with Exodus 20:5 and Deuteronomy 5:9, where God describes visiting the iniquity of fathers on subsequent generations.
Why it lands — The verse demands personal examination of one's own actions rather than reliance on ancestral merit or condemnation. It requires the reader to observe God's statutes and pursue justice to secure life.
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
Yet say ye, Why? doth not the son bear the iniquity of the father? When the son hath done that which is lawful and right, and hath kept all my statutes, and hath done them, he shall surely live.
Cross-references
- Exodus 20:5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,
- Zechariah 1:3 So tell the people that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Return to Me, declares the LORD of Hosts, and I will return to you, says the LORD of Hosts.’
- Deuteronomy 5:9 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,
- Jeremiah 15:4 I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth because of what Manasseh son of Hezekiah king of Judah did in Jerusalem.
- Ezekiel 18:2 “What do you people mean by quoting this proverb about the land of Israel: ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the teeth of the children are set on edge’?
- Ezekiel 18:9 He follows My statutes and faithfully keeps My ordinances. That man is righteous; surely he will live, declares the Lord GOD.
- Ezekiel 20:18 In the wilderness I said to their children: ‘Do not walk in the statutes of your fathers or keep their ordinances or defile yourselves with their idols.
- 2 Kings 23:26 Nevertheless, the LORD did not turn away from the fury of His burning anger, which was kindled against Judah because of all that Manasseh had done to provoke Him to anger.
- Lamentations 5:7 Our fathers sinned and are no more, but we bear their punishment.
- Ezekiel 20:24 For they did not practice My ordinances, but they rejected My statutes and profaned My Sabbaths, fixing their eyes on the idols of their fathers.