Ezekiel 18:25

American Standard Version (1901)

Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal. Hear now, O house of Israel: Is not my way equal? are not your ways unequal?

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

וַאֲמַרְתֶּ֕ם לֹ֥א יִתָּכֵ֖ן דֶּ֣רֶךְ אֲדֹנָ֑י שִׁמְעוּ־נָא֙ בֵּ֣ית יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל הֲדַרְכִּי֙ לֹ֣א יִתָּכֵ֔ן הֲלֹ֥א דַרְכֵיכֶ֖ם לֹ֥א יִתָּכֵֽנוּ׃

Transliteration

wa- ʾămartem lōʾ yittākēn derek ʾădōnāy šimʿû-nāʾ bêt yiśrāʾēl hă- darkî lōʾ yittākēn hă- lōʾ darkêkem lōʾ yittākēnû

Grammar Details

• *wa-*: conjunction - and
• *ʾămartem*: Qal perfect 2nd masculine plural - you have said
• *lōʾ*: negative particle - not
• *yittākēn*: Niphal imperfect 3rd masculine singular - it is established
• *derek*: masculine singular construct - way of
• *ʾădōnāy*: divine title - Lord
• *šimʿû*: Qal imperative masculine plural - hear
• *nāʾ*: particle of entreaty - please
• *bêt*: masculine singular construct - house of
• *yiśrāʾēl*: proper noun - Israel
• *hă-*: interrogative particle - whether
• *darkî*: masculine singular noun with 1st person singular suffix - my way
• *darkêkem*: masculine plural noun with 2nd masculine plural suffix - your ways
• *yittākēnû*: Niphal imperfect 3rd masculine plural - they are established

Word Meanings

• *yittākēn*: is established/is right/is just/is fair
• *derek*: way/path/conduct
• *šimʿû*-*nāʾ*: please hear/listen now/hear attentively
• *yittākēnû*: are established/are right/are just/are fair

Referenced Verses

• Ezek 33:17 : 17 Yet the children of thy people say, The way of the Lord is not equal: but as for them, their way is not equal.
• Ezek 33:20 : 20 Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal. O house of Israel, I will judge you every one after his ways.
• Zeph 3:5 : 5 Jehovah in the midst of her is righteous; he will not do iniquity; every morning doth he bring his justice to light, he faileth not; but the unjust knoweth no shame.
• Mal 2:17 : 17 Ye have wearied Jehovah with your words. Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied him? In that ye say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of Jehovah, and he delighteth in them; or where is the God of justice?
• Mal 3:13-15 : 13 Your words have been stout against me, saith Jehovah. Yet ye say, What have we spoken against thee? 14 Ye have said, It is vain to serve God; and what profit is it that we have kept his charge, and that we have walked mournfully before Jehovah of hosts? 15 And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are built up; yea, they tempt God, and escape.
• Gen 18:25 : 25 That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked, that so the righteous should be as the wicked; that be far from thee: shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?
• Jer 12:1 : 1 Righteous art thou, O Jehovah, when I contend with thee; yet would I reason the cause with thee: wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? wherefore are all they at ease that deal very treacherously?
• Ezek 18:29 : 29 Yet saith the house of Israel, The way of the Lord is not equal. O house of Israel, are not my ways equal? are not your ways unequal?
• Jer 16:10-13 : 10 And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt show this people all these words, and they shall say unto thee, Wherefore hath Jehovah pronounced all this great evil against us? or what is our iniquity? or what is our sin that we have committed against Jehovah our God? 11 Then shalt thou say unto them, Because your fathers have forsaken me, saith Jehovah, and have walked after other gods, and have served them, and have worshipped them, and have forsaken me, and have not kept my law; 12 and ye have done evil more than your fathers; for, behold, ye walk every one after the stubbornness of his evil heart, so that ye hearken not unto me: 13 therefore will I cast you forth out of this land into the land that ye have not known, neither ye nor your fathers; and there shall ye serve other gods day and night; for I will show you no favor.
• Deut 32:4 : 4 The Rock, his work is perfect; For all his ways are justice: A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, Just and right is he.
• Job 32:2 : 2 Then was kindled the wrath of Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram: against Job was his wrath kindled, because he justified himself rather than God.
• Job 34:5-9 : 5 For Job hath said, I am righteous, And God hath taken away my right: 6 Notwithstanding my right I am [accounted] a liar; My wound is incurable, [though I am] without transgression. 7 What man is like Job, Who drinketh up scoffing like water, 8 Who goeth in company with the workers of iniquity, And walketh with wicked men? 9 For he hath said, It profiteth a man nothing That he should delight himself with God. 10 Therefore hearken unto me, ye men of understanding: Far be it from God, that he should do wickedness, And from the Almighty, that he should commit iniquity.
• Job 35:2 : 2 Thinkest thou this to be [thy] right, [Or] sayest thou, My righteousness is more than God's,
• Job 40:8 : 8 Wilt thou even annul my judgment? Wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be justified?
• Job 42:4-6 : 4 Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak; I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me. 5 I had heard of thee by the hearing of the ear; But now mine eye seeth thee: 6 Wherefore I abhor [myself], And repent in dust and ashes.
• Ps 50:6 : 6 And the heavens shall declare his righteousness; For God is judge himself. {{Selah
• Ps 50:21 : 21 These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such a one as thyself: [But] I will reprove thee, and set [them] in order before thine eyes.
• Ps 145:17 : 17 Jehovah is righteous in all his ways, And gracious in all his works.
• Jer 2:17-23 : 17 Hast thou not procured this unto thyself, in that thou hast forsaken Jehovah thy God, when he led thee by the way? 18 And now what hast thou to do in the way to Egypt, to drink the waters of the Shihor? or what hast thou to do in the way to Assyria, to drink the waters of the River? [ 19 Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and a bitter, that thou hast forsaken Jehovah thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord, Jehovah of hosts. 20 For of old time I have broken thy yoke, and burst thy bonds; and thou saidst, I will not serve; for upon every high hill and under every green tree thou didst bow thyself, playing the harlot. 21 Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then art thou turned into the degenerate branches of a foreign vine unto me? 22 For though thou wash thee with lye, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord Jehovah. 23 How canst thou say, I am not defiled, I have not gone after the Baalim? see thy way in the valley, know what thou hast done: [thou art] a swift dromedary traversing her ways;
• Jer 2:29-37 : 29 Wherefore will ye contend with me? ye all have transgressed against me, saith Jehovah. 30 In vain have I smitten your children; they received no correction: your own sword hath devoured your prophets, like a destroying lion. 31 O generation, see ye the word of Jehovah. Have I been a wilderness unto Israel? or a land of thick darkness? wherefore say my people, We are broken loose; we will come no more unto thee? 32 Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? yet my people have forgotten me days without number. 33 How trimmest thou thy way to seek love! therefore even the wicked women hast thou taught thy ways. 34 Also in thy skirts is found the blood of the souls of the innocent poor: thou didst not find them breaking in; but it is because of all these things. 35 Yet thou saidst, I am innocent; surely his anger is turned away from me. Behold, I will enter into judgment with thee, because thou sayest, I have not sinned. 36 Why gaddest thou about so much to change thy way? thou shalt be ashamed of Egypt also, as thou wast ashamed of Assyria. 37 From thence also shalt thou go forth, with thy hands upon thy head: for Jehovah hath rejected those in whom thou trustest, and thou shalt not prosper with them.
• Matt 20:11-15 : 11 And when they received it, they murmured against the householder, 12 saying, These last have spent [but] one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat. 13 But he answered and said to one of them, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a shilling? 14 Take up that which is thine, and go thy way; it is my will to give unto this last, even as unto thee. 15 Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? or is thine eye evil, because I am good?
• Rom 2:5-6 : 5 but after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up for thyself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; 6 who will render to every man according to his works:
• Rom 3:5 : 5 But if our righteousness commendeth the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous who visiteth with wrath? (I speak after the manner of men.)
• Rom 3:20 : 20 because by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight; for through the law [cometh] the knowledge of sin.
• Rom 9:20 : 20 Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why didst thou make me thus?
• Rom 10:3 : 3 For being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.