Bible Strands
Ezekiel 3:18
If I say to the wicked man, ‘You will surely die,’ but you do not warn him or speak out to warn him from his wicked way to save his life, that wicked man will die in his iniquity, and I will hold you responsible for his blood.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — God addresses Ezekiel, whom he has just appointed watchman over the house of Israel (v. 17), laying out the consequence of silence. The "you" is Ezekiel; the "wicked man" is any member of that house.
The words — הִזְהַרְתּוֹ (hizhar'to), "you have warned him," from the Hiphil of zhr, carries the sense of making someone alert or aroused to danger; it is the specific act whose absence triggers the liability.
The thread — Ezekiel 33:6 restates the same watchman logic in a military image (sword, horn, blood). James 5:19–20 echoes the principle of bringing back a wanderer, though without the explicit threat of accountability for failure.
Why it lands — The wicked man's death is already decided; what the verse actually addresses is the speaker's own standing, making silence a personal act of complicity rather than mere omission.
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
When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
Cross-references
- Ezekiel 33:6 But if the watchman sees the sword coming and fails to blow the horn to warn the people, and the sword comes and takes away a life, then that one will be taken away in his iniquity, but I will hold the watchman accountable for his blood.’
- James 5:19 My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back,
- Ezekiel 3:20 Now if a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I put a stumbling block before him, he will die. If you did not warn him, he will die in his sin, and the righteous acts he did will not be remembered. And I will hold you responsible for his blood.
- Acts 20:26 Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men.
- Ezekiel 33:8 If I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you will surely die,’ but you do not speak out to dissuade him from his way, then that wicked man will die in his iniquity, yet I will hold you accountable for his blood.
- Luke 13:5 No, I tell you. But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”
- Acts 2:40 With many other words he testified, and he urged them, “Be saved from this corrupt generation.”
- 1 Timothy 4:16 Pay close attention to your life and to your teaching. Persevere in these things, for by so doing you will save both yourself and those who hear you.
- 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.
- John 8:21 Again He said to them, “I am going away, and you will look for Me, but you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.”