Ezekiel 18:19

Sin Guilt and conscience Parents and children

¹⁷ He withholds his hand from harming the poor and takes no interest or usury. He keeps My ordinances and follows My statutes. Such a man will not die for his father’s iniquity. He will surely live.

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.

Yet you may ask, ‘Why shouldn’t the son bear the iniquity of his father?’ Since the son has done what is just and right, carefully observing all My statutes, he will surely live.

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.

²¹ But if the wicked man turns from all the sins he has committed, keeps all My statutes, and does what is just and right, he will surely live; he will not die.

Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.

Compare

BSB: Yet you may ask, ‘Why shouldn’t the son bear the iniquity of his father?’ Since the son has done what is just and right, carefully observing all My statutes, he will surely live.
KJV: Yet say ye, Why? doth not the son bear the iniquity of the father? When the son hath done that which is lawful and right, and hath kept all my statutes, and hath done them, he shall surely live.
WEB: “Yet you say, ‘Why doesn’t the son bear the iniquity of the father?’ When the son has done that which is lawful and right, and has kept all my statutes, and has done them, he will surely live.
ASV: Yet say ye, Wherefore doth not the son bear the iniquity of the father? when the son hath done that which is lawful and right, and hath kept all my statutes, and hath done them, he shall surely live.
DARBY: And ye say, Why doth not the son bear the iniquity of the father? But the son hath done judgment and justice, hath kept all my statutes, and hath done them; he shall certainly live.
BLB: And you⁺ may say, ‘Why should not the son bear the guilt of the father?’ And the son has done justice and righteousness, all My statutes he has kept and he has done them; he will surely live.

ÅB: Men dere sier: Hvorfor skal ikke sønnen bære farens misgjerning? - Sønnen har jo gjort rett og rettferdighet, alle mine bud har han holdt og gjort etter dem; han skal leve.
OTB: "Likevel sier dere, ‘Hvorfor skal ikke sønnen lide for farens misgjerning?’ Når sønnen har gjort det som er rett og rettferdig, og har holdt alle mine lover og overholdt dem, skal han sannelig leve.
B1930: Men I sier: Hvorfor skal ikke sønnen bære farens misgjerning? - Sønnen har jo gjort rett og rettferdighet, alle mine bud har han holdt og gjort efter dem; han skal visselig leve.

Study notes (Tyndale)

Original text and word study

Cross references

Exodus 20:5
You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,
Read in context
Zechariah 1:3–6
So tell the people that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Return to Me, declares the LORD of Hosts, and I will return to you, says the LORD of Hosts.’
Read in context
Deuteronomy 5:9
You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,
Read in context
Ezekiel 18:9
He follows My statutes and faithfully keeps My ordinances. That man is righteous; surely he will live, declares the Lord GOD.
Read in context
Jeremiah 15:4
I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth because of what Manasseh son of Hezekiah king of Judah did in Jerusalem.
Read in context
Ezekiel 20:18–20
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.
Read in context
Ezekiel 18:2
“What do you people mean by quoting this proverb about the land of Israel: ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the teeth of the children are set on edge’?
Read in context
2 Kings 23:26
Nevertheless, the LORD did not turn away from the fury of His burning anger, which was kindled against Judah because of all that Manasseh had done to provoke Him to anger.
Read in context