Ezekiel 20:18
16 Because they despised my judgments, and walked not in my statutes, but polluted my sabbaths: for their heart went after their idols.
17 Nevertheless mine eye spared them from destroying them, neither did I make an end of them in the wilderness.
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:
19 I am the LORD your God; walk in my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them;
20 And hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the LORD your God.
This was said to Israel at a particular time, so it is wise to read it together with the surrounding text. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.
Compare
- BSB
- 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.
- KJV
- 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:
- WEB
- I said to their children in the wilderness, ‘Don’t walk in the statutes of your fathers. Don’t observe their ordinances or defile yourselves with their idols.
- ASV
- And I said unto their children in the wilderness, Walk ye not in the statutes of your fathers, neither observe their ordinances, nor defile yourselves with their idols.
- DARBY
- And I said unto their children in the wilderness, Walk not in the statutes of your fathers, neither keep their ordinances, nor defile yourselves with their idols.
- BLB
- And I said to their sons in the wilderness, ‘In the statutes of your⁺ fathers you⁺ shall not walk, and their ordinances you⁺ shall not keep, and with their idols you⁺ shall not defile yourselves.
- ÅB
- Og jeg sa til deres barn i ørkenen: Følg ikke deres fedres bud og hold ikke deres lover og gjør dere ikke urene med deres motbydelige avguder!
- OTB
- Jeg sa til deres barn i ørkenen: "Følg ikke deres foreldres lover eller hold deres forordninger eller gjør dere urene med deres avguder.
- B1930
- Og jeg sa til deres barn i ørkenen: Følg ikke eders fedres bud og hold ikke deres lover og gjør eder ikke urene med deres motbydelige avguder!
Study notes (Tyndale)
Original text and word study
Cross references
Deuteronomy 4:3–6
Your eyes have seen what the LORD did because of Baal-peor: for all the men that followed Baal-peor, the LORD thy God hath destroyed them from among you.
Read in contextActs 7:51
Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.
Read in contextPsalms 78:6–8
That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children:
Read in contextZechariah 1:2–4
The LORD hath been sore displeased with your fathers.
Read in contextEzekiel 20:7
Then said I unto them, Cast ye away every man the abominations of his eyes, and defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.
Read in context1 Peter 1:18
Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;
Read in contextJeremiah 3:9
And it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom, that she defiled the land, and committed adultery with stones and with stocks.
Read in contextJeremiah 2:7
And I brought you into a plentiful country, to eat the fruit thereof and the goodness thereof; but when ye entered, ye defiled my land, and made mine heritage an abomination.
Read in context