Ezekiel 18
Kids don’t die for parent’s sin
Sourpuss kids
1The LORD gave me a message: 2What do these people think they are doing by going around and quoting a snippy little saying like this:“The parents ate sour grapes3As sure as I'm alive and the Lord God, I'm going to put a stop to people using this proverb in Israel. 4The proverb is not true. Each person is an individual. People stand before me one at a time. The parent’s life is separate from the child. I punish only the people who sin. [1] They are the ones who die because of sin.
Now their kids are sourpusses.”
Sinners with idols and other women
5Let me tell you who gets to live. For starters, it's a righteous man who obeys the law. 6He doesn't eat meat sacrificed at those hilltop shrines. He doesn't worship idols. He certainly does not have sex with his neighbor's wife or with any woman during her period. 7He doesn't mistreat or exploit anyone. When people pay off their debt, he returns whatever security deposit he held. He doesn't steal from anyone, but he gives food to the people who are hungry and clothes to the people who need clothing.8When he loans money to someone, he doesn’t charge interest. When he settles a dispute between two parties, he's fair and honest in the process. 9He obeys the laws and regulations I've given my people. He's faithful about that. Anyone who does all of this is righteous. I’ll let that person live.
When kids go bad
10Now let me tell you about those who will die for their sins. The son of a righteous man might turn violent and even stoop to murder.11Unlike his father, he might eat sacrificed food at hilltop shrines, and he might commit adultery with his neighbor's wife. 12He might exploit poor and needy people and even rob them. If he loans money and someone pays him back, he might refuse to give back the security deposit he held. He might worship idols, and he might do horrifying and disgusting things.
13And he might charge interest when he loans money. If he does these kinds of things, how could I let him keep living. I can't. He has done all these horrible things. So, he must die. He’s got blood all over his hands. He needs to pay the price in blood.
The good grandson
14Now let's consider the father's grandson, the son of the man we just looked at. Let's say the grandson doesn't want to repeat the sins of his father.15So, the grandson decides that he's not going to eat food sacrificed on hilltop shrines, worship idols, and have sex with his neighbor's wife. 16He's honest with poor people. He doesn't demand a security deposit when he makes a loan. He doesn't rob anyone, but instead, he feeds the hungry and puts clothes on people who need it.
17He doesn't do anything that would hurt others. He doesn't take an advance when he makes a loan. And he doesn't charge interest. He obeys the laws and regulations I've given my people. He follows them all. So, he is not going to die because he had an ungodly father. This grandson will live. 18As for his dad, that's an entirely different matter. His dad extorted strangers, robbed his own brother, and did nothing good for anyone but himself. He died for his sins.
Sinners die first
19You might ask, “Why shouldn't children suffer for the sins of their father? What's wrong with that?” [2] I'll tell you what's wrong with that. The son obeyed the law and lived his life according to the guidance I've given. For living a righteous life like that, he gets to keep living.20It's the sinner who dies because of the sins committed. A child is not going to suffer like that because of how the father lived. I judge people individually, according to their goodness or their wickedness. The behavior of one person has nothing to do with how I judge another.
God offers to forgive sinful people
21If a poor excuse of a human decides to make a change for the better, and he starts obeying the laws I've given him and behaving like he belongs to my people, I’ll let him live. I won’t end him because of those past sins.22People will eventually forget those sins. It will be as though they never happened. These formerly bad people will become known only for the good things they've done in life.
23Do you honestly think I want to kill these people for behaving the way they do? Don't you think I would rather see them change their lives so they can keep on living?
24Now let's say a good man decides to stop being good. He turns evil and does sickening things to other people. Am I going to let a person like that live? People will no longer remember a man like that for the good things he has done. They will remember him for his treachery and inhumanity. This man must die.
25You people say, “The Lord is unfair in the way he deals with people.” Talk about unfair. That’s uncalled for. I'm telling you it's just the opposite. I'm not the one being unfair. You are. 26When a good man turns bad, that's when he has to die for his sins. People die for their own sins, not for anyone else’s. 27And when the bad person decides to become a righteous person committed to the law and goodness, they get to live. 28They decided to make that change in life and to commit themselves to the laws I've given them. They’re not going to die for their sins.
29And yet you people of Israel say, “The Lord is inconsistent and unfair.” People of Israel, is it really my way that's unfair? Isn't it true that you’re the inconsistent ones? [3]
30People of Israel, I'm going to judge you according to the way you live your lives. I'm telling you right now as the Lord God, turn away from your sins. They will ruin your life if you let them.
31Just pick up all the sins of your life and throw them out. Get rid of that diseased heart. Find a new heart. And get yourself a new spirit about you. Why do you insist on dying, people of Israel. 32I don't find any joy in the death of anyone. I'm the Lord God and I'm telling you turn away from your sins so you can live. Stop it.
Footnotes
Humm. Some would say that doesn’t sound like the God of Moses, leading the Hebrew refugees to the land they were going to take from Cannanites, in what is now Israel and the diminishing Palestinian Territory. “You can’t worship idols or bow to them. I’m your God. I’m the LORD, and I’m a passionate God who lets the consequences of a person’s sin affect several generations” (Deuteronomy 5:9). Maybe there’s a subtle difference between sins of the parents hurting the children and sins of the parents not requiring kids to die because of it. Yet some bad parents take the kids with them to the grave. Perhaps we have to be looking at this from a higher elevation to see the eternal effect a parent’s sin does or doesn’t have here on earth. Because at this elevation, it seems difficult to tell. Sinful parents can spawn sinful kids. But we all make our choices as adults. And God says he honors our choice of kindness, goodness, and righteousness.
Kids sometimes died for the sins of their parents. Here’s law 230 in Hammurabi’s Code written in stone several centuries before Bible writers said God gave Moses the Ten Commandments: “If a builder constructs a house that collapses and kills the son of the owner, the builder’s son will be put to death.” Hammurabi was king of Babylon in the mid-1700’s BC.
It is inconsistent to claim to be the people of Israel’s God while having sex rites with a temple prostitute to entertain an idol, or while sacrificing your children to a native god, or while breaking God’s laws like it’s your mission in life. Something like that may have been on Ezekiel’s mind at the time he reported this.
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