Bible Strands
Ezekiel 33:16
None of the sins he has committed will be held against him. He has done what is just and right; he will surely live.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Ezekiel addresses exiled Israelites who complain that God’s ways are unjust, declaring that God personally guarantees life to any repentant sinner who abandons iniquity and restores what was taken (Ezekiel 33:15-17).
The words — The phrase לֹא תִזָּכַרְנָה (lo’ ti.za.Khar.nah) literally means “they will not be remembered,” referring to the past sins of the individual. The text immediately grounds this in מִשְׁפָּט וּצְדָקָה (mish.Pat u.tze.da.Kah), rendered “justice and righteousness,” which the person has now actively practiced.
The thread — The motif of forgotten transgression runs through Isaiah 43:25, where God erases sins for His own name’s sake, and Micah 7:18, where He pardons iniquity out of delight in covenant loyalty. Ezekiel 18:22 directly parallels the current verse by stating that the removal of transgressions accompanies the life granted because of the righteousness the person has practiced.
Why it lands — The text requires a reader to stop treating repentance as a transactional formula and instead recognize that divine pardon is granted when a person actually lives justly. It demands immediate obedience to God’s statutes as the visible proof that past sins are no longer counted.
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
None of his sins that he hath committed shall be mentioned unto him: he hath done that which is lawful and right; he shall surely live.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 43:25 I, yes I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake and remembers your sins no more.
- Ezekiel 18:22 None of the transgressions he has committed will be held against him. Because of the righteousness he has practiced, he will live.
- Micah 7:18 Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity and passes over the transgression of the remnant of His inheritance—who does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in loving devotion?
- Isaiah 1:18 “Come now, let us reason together,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are as red as crimson, they will become like wool.
- Isaiah 44:22 I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud, and your sins like a mist. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.
- Romans 5:16 Again, the gift is not like the result of the one man’s sin: The judgment that followed one sin brought condemnation, but the gift that followed many trespasses brought justification.
- 1 John 2:1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate before the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.
- Romans 5:21 so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.