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That they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.
Ezekiel 11:20 · King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB that they may walk in my statutes, and keep my ordinances, and do them. They will be my people, and I will be their God.
  • BSB so that they may follow My statutes, keep My ordinances, and practice them. Then they will be My people, and I will be their God.
  • NKJV that they may walk in My statutes and keep My judgments and do them; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God.
  • NASB so that they may walk in My statutes, and keep My ordinances and do them. Then they will be My people, and I shall be their God.
  • NLT so they will obey my decrees and regulations. Then they will truly be my people, and I will be their God.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

God promises a renewed people who will obey Him from the heart, sealed by the covenant formula 'they will be my people, and I will be their God.'

Overview

This climaxes God's promise (vv. 17-20) to give Israel a new, unified heart so they will keep His law. The change is God's gift, not human achievement, anticipating the fuller new-covenant promise of 36:26-27. The covenant bond it secures is fulfilled in Christ, who by His Spirit writes the law on believers' hearts (Heb. 8:10).

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 21

  • Ezek 14:11That 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.
  • Ps 105:45That they might observe his statutes, and keep his laws. Praise ye the LORD.
  • Jer 30:22And ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.
  • Titus 2:11–12For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
  • Luke 1:6And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.
  • Jer 31:33But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
  • Ps 119:4–5Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently.
  • Rom 16:26But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith:
  • Heb 11:16But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.
  • Zech 13:9And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God.
  • 1 Cor 11:2Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you.
  • Jer 11:4Which I commanded your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, Obey my voice, and do them, according to all which I command you: so shall ye be my people, and I will be your God:
  • Ezek 36:27–28And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
  • Hos 2:23And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God.
  • Ezek 11:12And ye shall know that I am the LORD: for ye have not walked in my statutes, neither executed my judgments, but have done after the manners of the heathen that are round about you.
  • Heb 8:10For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
  • Luke 1:74–75That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear,
  • Jer 24:7And I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the LORD: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart.
  • Ezek 37:27My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
  • Jer 32:38And they shall be my people, and I will be their God:
  • Ps 119:32I will run the way of thy commandments, when thou shalt enlarge my heart.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (3)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Ezekiel videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Ezekiel 11:20YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on EzekielMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

The promise of one Shepherd-King David, a new heart and new Spirit, and the river of life flowing from the temple all stream toward Christ, the good Shepherd who gives the Spirit.

How Ezekiel 11:20 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.