Ezekiel 18:25

Authorized King James Version (1611)

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 ye house of Israel, I will judge you every one after his ways.
• Zeph 3:5 : 5 The just LORD [is] in the midst thereof; he will not do iniquity: every morning doth he bring his judgment to light, he faileth not; but the unjust knoweth no shame.
• Mal 2:17 : 17 Ye have wearied the LORD with your words. Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied [him]? When ye say, Every one that doeth evil [is] good in the sight of the LORD, and he delighteth in them; or, Where [is] the God of judgment?
• Mal 3:13-15 : 13 ¶ Your words have been stout against me, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, What have we spoken [so much] against thee? 14 Ye have said, It [is] vain to serve God: and what profit [is it] that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the LORD of hosts? 15 And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, [they that] tempt God are even delivered.
• Gen 18:25 : 25 That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that 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 LORD, when I plead with thee: yet let me talk with thee of [thy] judgments: Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? [wherefore] are all they happy 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 shew this people all these words, and they shall say unto thee, Wherefore hath the LORD pronounced all this great evil against us? or what [is] our iniquity? or what [is] our sin that we have committed against the LORD our God? 11 Then shalt thou say unto them, Because your fathers have forsaken me, saith the LORD, 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 worse than your fathers; for, behold, ye walk every one after the imagination of his evil heart, that they may not hearken unto me: 13 Therefore will I cast you out of this land into a land that ye know not, [neither] ye nor your fathers; and there shall ye serve other gods day and night; where I will not shew you favour.
• Deut 32:4 : 4 [He is] the Rock, his work [is] perfect: for all his ways [are] judgment: a God of truth 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 kindred 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 judgment. 6 Should I lie against my right? my wound [is] incurable without transgression. 7 What man [is] like Job, [who] drinketh up scorning like water? 8 Which 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 right, [that] thou saidst, My righteousness [is] more than God's?
• Job 40:8 : 8 Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?
• 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 have 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 an one] as thyself: [but] I will reprove thee, and set [them] in order before thine eyes.
• Ps 145:17 : 17 The LORD [is] righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works.
• Jer 2:17-23 : 17 Hast thou not procured this unto thyself, in that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, when he led thee by the way? 18 And now what hast thou to do in the way of Egypt, to drink the waters of Sihor? or what hast thou to do in the way of 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 bitter, that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, and that my fear [is] not in thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts. 20 ¶ For of old time I have broken thy yoke, [and] burst thy bands; and thou saidst, I will not transgress; when upon every high hill and under every green tree thou wanderest, playing the harlot. 21 Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me? 22 For though thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much soap, [yet] thine iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord GOD. 23 How canst thou say, I am not polluted, I have not gone after 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 plead with me? ye all have transgressed against me, saith the LORD. 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 the LORD. Have I been a wilderness unto Israel? a land of darkness? wherefore say my people, We are lords; we will come no more unto thee? 32 Can a maid forget her ornaments, [or] a bride her attire? yet my people have forgotten me days without number. 33 Why trimmest thou thy way to seek love? therefore hast thou also taught the wicked ones thy ways. 34 Also in thy skirts is found the blood of the souls of the poor innocents: I have not found it by secret search, but upon all these. 35 Yet thou sayest, Because I am innocent, surely his anger shall turn from me. Behold, I will plead with thee, because thou sayest, I have not sinned. 36 Why gaddest thou about so much to change thy way? thou also shalt be ashamed of Egypt, as thou wast ashamed of Assyria. 37 Yea, thou shalt go forth from him, and thine hands upon thine head: for the LORD hath rejected thy confidences, and thou shalt not prosper in them.
• Matt 20:11-15 : 11 ‹And when they had received› [it], ‹they murmured against the goodman of the house,› 12 ‹Saying, These last have wrought› [but] ‹one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day.› 13 ‹But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny?› 14 ‹Take› [that] ‹thine› [is], ‹and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee.› 15 ‹Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good?›
• Rom 2:5-6 : 5 But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; 6 Who will render to every man according to his deeds:
• Rom 3:5 : 5 But if our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God, what shall we say? [Is] God unrighteous who taketh vengeance? (I speak as a man)
• Rom 3:20 : 20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law [is] 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 hast thou made me thus?
• Rom 10:3 : 3 For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.