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.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — God addresses the descendants of Israel in the wilderness, recording His past command to them after withholding destruction in the preceding verse and before issuing His direct command in the following verse.

The words — וָ/אֹמַ֤ר (va./'o.Mar) translates literally as “and I said,” establishing the divine origin of the command, while בַּ/מִּדְבָּ֔ר (ba./mid.Bar) anchors the utterance geographically in the wilderness.

The thread — This warning against ancestral idolatry echoes Deuteronomy 4:3, where God destroys Baal worshippers, Psalm 78:6, which mandates passing these judgments to unborn children, and Ezekiel 20:7, which repeats the command to cast away abominations.

Why it lands — The text commands readers to abandon inherited religious customs and idol worship, requiring them to adopt God’s statutes instead of following paternal tradition.

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

וָאֹמַ֤רva./'o.Marand/ I said אֶל־'el-to בְּנֵיהֶם֙be.nei./Hemchildren/ their בַּמִּדְבָּ֔רba./mid.Barin the/ wilderness בְּחוּקֵּ֤יbe./chu.Keiin/ [the] statutes of אֲבֽוֹתֵיכֶם֙'a.vo.tei./Khemancestors/ your אַל־'al-may not תֵּלֵ֔כוּte.Le.khuyou walk וְאֶת־ve./'Etand/ <obj.>מִשְׁפְּטֵיהֶ֖םmish.pe.tei./Hemjudgments/ their אַל־'al-may not תִּשְׁמֹ֑רוּtish.Mo.ruyou keep וּבְגִלּוּלֵיהֶ֖םu./ve./gi.lu.lei./Hemand/ by/ idols/ their אַל־'al-may not תִּטַּמָּֽאוּ׃ti.ta.Ma.'uyou make yourselves unclean

King James Version

But I said unto their children in the wilderness, Walk ye not in the statutes of your fathers, neither observe their judgments, nor defile yourselves with their idols:

Cross-references

Deuteronomy 4:3 Your eyes have seen what the LORD did at Baal-peor, for the LORD your God destroyed from among you all who followed Baal of Peor.
Psalms 78:6 that the coming generation would know them—even children yet to be born—to arise and tell their own children
Ezekiel 20:7 And I said to them: ‘Each of you must throw away the abominations before his eyes, and you must not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.’
Zechariah 1:2 “The LORD was very angry with your fathers.
Acts 7:51 You stiff-necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit, just as your fathers did.
1 Peter 1:18 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life you inherited from your forefathers,
Numbers 14:32 As for you, however, your bodies will fall in this wilderness.
Numbers 32:13 The anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until the whole generation who had done evil in His sight was gone.
Jeremiah 2:7 I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and bounty, but you came and defiled My land and made My inheritance detestable.
Jeremiah 3:9 Indifferent to her own infidelity, Israel had defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and trees.