Bible Strands
Ezekiel 18:4
Behold, every soul belongs to Me; both father and son are Mine. The soul who sins is the one who will die.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The Lord GOD addresses Israel through Ezekiel to terminate a local proverb that justified current suffering as inherited punishment. This declaration occurs immediately before the prophet details the specific righteous and wicked behaviors that determine individual fate.
The words — The Hebrew כָּל־הַנְּפָשׁוֹת (kol-han-nefashot) translates literally as "all the lives" or "all the souls," establishing comprehensive divine ownership. It is contrasted with the singular כְּנֶפֶשׁ (khenefesh), meaning "the life/soul," to show that God holds each parent and child directly accountable.
The thread — The identical formula "The soul who sins is the one who will die" reappears in Ezekiel 18:20 to reinforce individual culpability, while the underlying principle of divine sovereignty over human life appears in Numbers 16:22 and the theological consequence in Romans 6:23.
Why it lands — The text demands that readers abandon collective blame and accept personal responsibility for their own actions. It requires immediate self-examination rather than deferring judgment to ancestors or descendants.
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
Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.
Cross-references
- Ezekiel 18:20 The soul who sins is the one who will die. A son will not bear the iniquity of his father, and a father will not bear the iniquity of his son. The righteousness of the righteous man will fall upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked man will fall upon him.
- Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
- Numbers 16:22 But Moses and Aaron fell facedown and said, “O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, when one man sins, will You be angry with the whole congregation?”
- Hebrews 12:9 Furthermore, we have all had earthly fathers who disciplined us, and we respected them. Should we not much more submit to the Father of our spirits and live?
- Galatians 3:10 All who rely on works of the law are under a curse. For it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.”
- Zechariah 12:1 This is the burden of the word of the LORD concerning Israel. Thus declares the LORD, who stretches out the heavens and lays the foundation of the earth, who forms the spirit of man within him:
- Numbers 27:16 “May the LORD, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation
- Galatians 3:22 But the Scripture pronounces all things confined by sin, so that by faith in Jesus Christ the promise might be given to those who believe.
- Isaiah 42:5 This is what God the LORD says—He who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and its offspring, who gives breath to the people on it and life to those who walk in it: