Ezekiel 18:4 kjv
Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.
Ezekiel 18:4 nkjv
"Behold, all souls are Mine; The soul of the father As well as the soul of the son is Mine; The soul who sins shall die.
Ezekiel 18:4 niv
For everyone belongs to me, the parent as well as the child?both alike belong to me. The one who sins is the one who will die.
Ezekiel 18:4 esv
Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine: the soul who sins shall die.
Ezekiel 18:4 nlt
For all people are mine to judge ? both parents and children alike. And this is my rule: The person who sins is the one who will die.
Ezekiel 18 4 Cross References
| Verse | Text | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| God's Sovereignty & Ownership | ||
| Psa 24:1 | The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof... | God owns everything. |
| 1 Cor 6:19-20 | ...you are not your own, for you were bought with a price... | Believers belong to Christ. |
| Deut 32:39 | "See now that I, I am He, and there is no god besides me; I kill and I make alive..." | God's absolute power over life and death. |
| Job 12:10 | In His hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind. | God holds all life. |
| Lev 27:30 | "Every tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the trees, is the Lord's..." | God's claim over all. |
| Individual Responsibility & Judgment | ||
| Deut 24:16 | "Fathers shall not be put to death because of their children, nor shall children be put to death because of their fathers..." | No inherited guilt in Mosaic law. |
| Jer 31:29-30 | "In those days they shall no longer say: 'The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge.' But everyone shall die for his own iniquity..." | Confirms individual accountability. |
| Rom 2:6 | He will render to each one according to his works... | God judges based on actions. |
| 2 Cor 5:10 | For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body... | Personal judgment for deeds. |
| Gal 6:7 | Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. | Reaping individual consequences. |
| Col 3:25 | For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality. | Sin leads to individual retribution. |
| Rom 14:12 | So then each of us will give an account of himself to God. | Every person's personal account. |
| Rev 22:12 | "Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done." | Christ's judgment is individual. |
| Matt 16:27 | For the Son of Man is going to come...and then he will repay each person according to his deeds. | Christ repays each for their deeds. |
| 1 Pet 1:17 | ...who judges impartially according to each one's deeds... | God's impartial individual judgment. |
| Consequences of Sin (Death) | ||
| Gen 2:17 | ...but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die. | Sin's original penalty. |
| Rom 5:12 | Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— | Sin introduced death into the world. |
| Rom 6:23 | For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. | Sin's direct consequence. |
| Jas 1:15 | Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. | Sin leads directly to death. |
| 1 Cor 15:21-22 | For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die... | All humans inherit mortality through sin. |
| God's Justice & Mercy | ||
| Ezek 33:11 | Say to them, As I live, declares the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live... | God's desire is for repentance, not death. |
| Psa 9:8 | He judges the world with righteousness; he governs the peoples with equity. | God's righteous and equitable judgment. |
| Psa 7:11 | God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation every day. | God's unchanging righteousness in judgment. |
Ezekiel 18 verses
Ezekiel 18 4 Meaning
Ezekiel 18:4 asserts God's absolute ownership over every human life. He declares that all souls belong to Him, emphasizing that just as the father's soul belongs to Him, so does the son's. This establishes the foundation for His unwavering principle of justice: the individual soul that actively sins is the one who will personally suffer death, particularly spiritual separation from God, which leads to ultimate demise. This powerfully refutes the prevalent Israelite proverb that suggested children were being punished for their parents' sins.
Ezekiel 18 4 Context
Ezekiel 18:4 is foundational to the chapter's main theme: God’s righteous individual justice. The people of Israel in Babylonian exile were reciting a popular proverb: "The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge" (Ezek 18:2). This proverb reflected their fatalistic belief that they were suffering not for their own sins, but due to the inherited guilt and curses of previous generations, specifically the idolatry of King Manasseh. They felt their present hardship was an inescapable consequence of their ancestors' actions, thus absolving themselves of personal responsibility. Ezekiel, through this verse and the entire chapter, directly confronts and dismantles this erroneous understanding, powerfully affirming that God's judgment is individually applied and based on each person's own actions and righteousness. The prophet asserts divine sovereignty over every person, providing a basis for hope and individual repentance in exile.
Ezekiel 18 4 Word analysis
- Behold (הִנֵּה hinneh): This particle serves as an emphatic declaration, signaling that what follows is profoundly significant and calls for absolute attention. It introduces a vital, often unexpected, divine truth.
- all souls (כָּל־הַנֶּפֶשׁ kol-hannefesh): "Nefesh" (נֶּפֶשׁ) in Hebrew refers to the whole living person, the entire being, not merely a disembodied spirit. "All" emphasizes the comprehensive scope – every single individual without exception. The phrase asserts God's complete ownership over every life created.
- are mine (לִי הֵמָּה li hemmah): This direct possessive phrase stresses God's absolute proprietary right over all human life. It forms the ultimate basis for His prerogative to judge each individual according to His perfect justice.
- as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: This reiterates the point of divine ownership, explicitly addressing and counteracting the misperception behind the "sour grapes" proverb. It clarifies that each individual – father and son alike – is independently accountable to God because each, separately, belongs to Him.
- the soul that sins (הַנֶּפֶשׁ הַחֹטֵאת hannefesh hakhote't): Again, "nefesh" refers to the entire person. "Hakhote't" (הַחֹטֵאת) is a participle, indicating the one who is sinning or who has sinned. It highlights active personal transgression. The emphasis is firmly on individual culpability.
- it shall die (הִיא תָמוּת hi tamut): "Hi" (הִיא) is the emphatic pronoun "it," reinforcing the direct correlation between the sinner and the consequence. "Tamut" (תָמוּת) is a strong form of the verb "to die," implying certainty. This "death" refers primarily to spiritual death—separation from God, the source of life—which ultimately leads to physical demise and eternal judgment.
Words-group analysis
- "Behold, all souls are mine": This opening statement is a powerful assertion of divine sovereignty. It serves as the bedrock for the entire discourse that follows, grounding God's right to impose individual accountability and justice in His universal ownership of creation.
- "as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine": This phrase directly undermines the collective guilt theology of the people. By repeating the assertion of ownership for both father and son, God clarifies that each person's spiritual standing is individual and directly linked to Him, not vicariously through ancestry.
- "the soul that sins, it shall die": This is the ultimate principle of individual accountability flowing from divine ownership. It clearly states the consequence for personal sin, directly challenging the notion of inherited spiritual doom for personal choices. The person who sins faces the penalty of death, marking a departure from collective judgment regarding ultimate spiritual destiny.
Ezekiel 18 4 Bonus section
- This pivotal verse marked a significant shift in Old Testament prophetic emphasis, moving from primarily corporate responsibility, which often saw generations impacted by covenant curses due to ancestral sins, to a stronger assertion of individual accountability, particularly regarding eternal spiritual destiny. While the Bible affirms corporate consequences for societal sin (e.g., land defilement, generational struggles due to national idolatry), Ezekiel 18:4 clarifies that ultimate spiritual judgment and death result from individual sin.
- The declaration in Ezekiel 18 provides the theological bedrock for the possibility of personal repentance and return to God even in exile. If judgment were solely based on ancestral sin, there would be no hope for the current generation to change their outcome. By emphasizing individual responsibility, God reveals a path to life for all who turn from their wicked ways.
- Ezekiel's prophetic ministry here challenged the misconception that God was unjust or that His justice was arbitrary. He emphasized that God's judgments were always righteous, precisely because they were individually applied based on each person's moral standing and personal actions.
Ezekiel 18 4 Commentary
Ezekiel 18:4 stands as a monumental declaration of God's unyielding righteousness and personal justice, shattering a fatalistic belief common among the exiled Israelites. By proclaiming "all souls are mine," God asserts His absolute sovereignty and proprietary right over every individual human life. This fundamental truth lays the groundwork for understanding His just governance. The repetition, "as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine," explicitly refutes the false proverb that suggested a person's fate was determined by their ancestors' sins, thus nullifying individual responsibility. Instead, God states an unambiguous principle: "the soul that sins, it shall die." This means that the individual who actively engages in sin will experience its consequence – death, understood primarily as spiritual separation from God, which culminates in eternal condemnation. This divine pronouncement clarifies that God judges each person based on their own choices and actions, not on inherited guilt, offering a pathway to repentance and a personal walk with Him. It implies that salvation, too, must be a personal endeavor.