Bible Strands
Ezekiel 18:7
He does not oppress another, but restores the pledge to the debtor. He does not commit robbery, but gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with clothing.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Ezekiel, prophet to the Babylonian exiles, is constructing a hypothetical portrait of a righteous man (18:5–9) to dismantle the proverb "the fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge" (18:2). This verse sits in the economic-justice cluster of that portrait, between sexual ethics (v. 6) and usury (v. 8).
The words — חֲבֹלָת (cha.vO.lat, H2258) is the legal term for a pledge or collateral, specifically a garment or item a debtor hands over as security; paired with יָשִׁיב (ya.Shiv, H7725), "he returned," the verse names the act as restoration of a specific object to a specific person, not generic generosity.
The thread — Exodus 22:26 commands the return of a neighbor's cloak by sunset, giving the pledge-restoration its legal root. Ezekiel 18:12 and 18:16 reuse the same triad (oppress, pledge, robbery) to describe the wicked, making 18:7 the positive mirror of the same terms.
Why it lands — The righteous man does not forgive the debt; he returns the pledge so the debtor can work and repay, which is a higher bar than charity because it preserves the debtor's dignity and the creditor's right simultaneously. The demand is not abstract kindness but a concrete hand reaching for a specific object belonging to a specific person.
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
And hath not oppressed any, but hath restored to the debtor his pledge, hath spoiled none by violence, hath given his bread to the hungry, and hath covered the naked with a garment;
Cross-references
- 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.
- Exodus 22:26 If you take your neighbor’s cloak as collateral, return it to him by sunset,
- 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.
- Deuteronomy 24:12 If he is a poor man, you must not go to sleep with the security in your possession;
- Ezekiel 33:15 if he restores a pledge, makes restitution for what he has stolen, and walks in the statutes of life without practicing iniquity—then he will surely live; he will not die.
- Exodus 22:21 You must not exploit or oppress a foreign resident, for you yourselves were foreigners in the land of Egypt.
- Ezekiel 18:18 As for his father, he will die for his own iniquity, because he practiced extortion, robbed his brother, and did what was wrong among his people.
- Amos 2:8 They lie down beside every altar on garments taken in pledge. And in the house of their God, they drink wine obtained through fines.
- Amos 3:10 “For they know not how to do right,” declares the LORD. “They store up violence and destruction in their citadels.”
- Luke 3:11 John replied, “Whoever has two tunics should share with him who has none, and whoever has food should do the same.”