Ezekiel 20 · Verse 25

Ezekiel 20:25

Wherefore I gave them also statutes that were not good, and judgments whereby they should not live;
Ezekiel 20:25, King James Version

Ezekiel 20:25 in other translations

BSBI also gave them over to statutes that were not good and ordinances by which they could not live.
WEBMoreover also I gave them statutes that were not good, and ordinances in which they couldn’t live.
ASVMoreover also I gave them statutes that were not good, and ordinances wherein they should not live;
YLTAnd I also, I have given to them statutes not good, And judgments by which they do not live.
DARBYAnd I also gave them statutes that were not good, and ordinances whereby they should not live;
BBEAnd further, I gave them rules which were not good and orders in which there was no life for them;
WebsterWherefore I gave them also statutes that were not good, and judgments by which they should not live;

What does Ezekiel 20:25 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
25. I gave them ... statutes ... not good--Since they would not follow My statutes that were good, "I gave them" their own (Eze 20:18) and their fathers' "which were not good"; statutes spiritually corrupting, and, finally, as the consequence, destroying them. Righteous retribution (Psa 81:12; Ho 8:11; Ro 1:24; 2Th 2:11). Eze 20:39 proves this view to be correct (compare Is 63:17). Thus on the plains of Moab (Nu 25:1-18), in chastisement for the secret unfaithfulness to God in their hearts, He permitted Baal's worshippers to tempt them to idolatry (the ready success of the tempters, moreover, proving the inward unsoundness of the tempted); and this again ended necessarily in punitive judgments.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 25 I gave them also statutes that were not good - What a foolish noise has been made about this verse by critics, believers and infidels! How is it that God can be said "to give a people statutes that were not good, and judgments whereby they could not live?" I answer, in their sense of the words, God never gave any such, at any time, to any people. Let any man produce an example of this kind if he can; or show even the fragment of such a law, sanctioned by the Most High! The simple meaning of this place and all such places is, that when they had rebelled against the Lord, despised his statutes, and polluted his Sabbaths - in effect cast him off, and given themselves wholly to their idols, then he abandoned them, and they abandoned themselves to the customs and ordinances of the heathen. That this is the meaning of the words, requires no proof to them who are the least acquainted with the genius and idioms of the Hebrew language, in which God is a thousand times said to do, what in the course of his providence or justice he only permits to be done.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Ezekiel 20:10-26

. The history of Israel in the wilderness is referred to in the new Testament as well as in the Old, for warning. God did great things for them. He gave them the law, and revived the ancient keeping of the sabbath day. Sabbaths are privileges; they are signs of our being his people. If we do the duty of the day, we shall find, to our comfort, it is the Lord that makes us holy, that is, truly happy, here; and…

Read the full comment on Ezekiel 20:10-26 →

Ezekiel 20:25 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

וְגַם\־ve.gam-and alsoH1571
אֲנִי֙'a.NiIH589
נָתַ֣תִּיna.Ta.tiI gaveH5414
לָהֶ֔םla.Hemto <the> them
חֻקִּ֖יםchu.KimstatutesH2706
לֹ֣אlo'notH3808
טוֹבִ֑יםto.VimgoodH2896
וּמִ֨שְׁפָּטִ֔יםu.Mish.pa.Timand judgmentsH4941
לֹ֥אlo'[which] notH3808
יִֽחְי֖וּyich.Yuthey will liveH2421
בָּהֶֽם\׃ba.Hemby them

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Ezekiel 20:25

  • Psalms 81:12

    So I gave them up unto their own hearts’ lust: and they walked in their own counsels.

  • Ezekiel 20:39

    As for you, O house of Israel, thus saith the Lord God; Go ye, serve ye every one his idols, and hereafter also, if ye will not hearken unto me: but pollute ye my holy name no more with your gifts, and with your idols.

  • Isaiah 66:4

    I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them; because when I called, none did answer; when I spake, they did not hear: but they did evil before mine eyes, and chose that in which I delighted not.

  • Ezekiel 20:26

    And I polluted them in their own gifts, in that they caused to pass through the fire all that openeth the womb, that I might make them desolate, to the end that they might know that I am the Lord.

  • 2 Thessalonians 2:9-11

    Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:

  • Deuteronomy 28:36

    The Lord shall bring thee, and thy king which thou shalt set over thee, unto a nation which neither thou nor thy fathers have known; and there shalt thou serve other gods, wood and stone.

  • Ezekiel 14:9-11

    And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the Lord have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel. And they shall bear the punishment of their iniquity: the punishment of the prophet shall be even as the punishment of him that seeketh unto him; That the house of Israel may go no more astray from me, neither be polluted any more with all their transgressions; but that they may be my people, and I may be their God, saith the Lord God.

  • Deuteronomy 4:27-28

    And the Lord shall scatter you among the nations, and ye shall be left few in number among the heathen, whither the Lord shall lead you. And there ye shall serve gods, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.

  • Romans 1:21-28

    Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: …

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
I gave.The simple meaning of this place is, that when the Israelites had rebelled against God, despised his statutes, and polluted his sabbaths, in effect cast him off, and given themselves up wholly to their idols, then He, in a just judgment for their disobedience, abandoned them, "gave them up to a reprobate mind," (Ro 1:28,) and suffered them to walk after the idolatrous, cruel, and impious customs and ordinances of the heathen; by which they were ripened for the destruction which he intended to bring upon them, that they might learn to know God by his judgments, seeing they had despised his mercies. In the same sense God is said judicially to "send a strong delusion, that they should believe a lie," to those who "received not the love of the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness."
26,39; 14:9-11; De 4:27,28; 28:36; Ps 81:12; Isa 66:4; Ro 1:21-28
2Th 2:9-11

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Ezekiel 20:24

    Because they had not executed my judgments, but had despised my statutes, and had polluted my sabbaths, and their eyes were after their fathers’ idols.

  • Ezekiel 20:25

    Wherefore I gave them also statutes that were not good, and judgments whereby they should not live;

  • Ezekiel 20:26

    And I polluted them in their own gifts, in that they caused to pass through the fire all that openeth the womb, that I might make them desolate, to the end that they might know that I am the Lord.

Read all of Ezekiel 20

Ezekiel 20:25 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909
Por eso yo también les dí ordenanzas no buenas, y derechos por los cuales no viviesen;
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885
Et moi aussi, je leur donnai des statuts qui n’étaient pas bons et des ordonnances par lesquelles ils ne pouvaient vivre;
German
Elberfelder 1871
Und auch ich gab ihnen Satzungen, die nicht gut waren, und Rechte, durch welche sie nicht leben konnten.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate
Ergo et ego dedi eis præcepta non bona, et judicia in quibus non vivent.