Therefore, O house of Israel, I will judge you, each according to his ways, declares the Lord GOD. Repent and turn from all your transgressions, so that your iniquity will not become your downfall.
Parallel translations
- WEB “Therefore I will judge you, house of Israel, everyone according to his ways,” says the Lord Yahweh. “Return, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.
- KJV Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord GOD. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.
- ESV “Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, declares the Lord GOD. Repent and turn from all your transgressions, lest iniquity be your ruin.
- NKJV “Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways,” says the Lord God. “Repent, and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin.
- NASB “Therefore I will judge you, house of Israel, each according to his conduct,” declares the Lord God. “Repent and turn away from all your offenses, so that wrongdoing does not become a stumbling block to you.
- NLT “Therefore, I will judge each of you, O people of Israel, according to your actions, says the Sovereign Lord. Repent, and turn from your sins. Don’t let them destroy you!
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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 will judge each one according to his ways and calls Israel to repent so sin will not be their ruin. God's justice comes with a gracious summons to turn.
Overview
The LORD declares individual judgment but immediately urges, 'Return, and turn yourselves.' Judgment is announced precisely to provoke repentance, not despair. God's heart is to spare, and His call to turn is an invitation of mercy.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 32
- Ezek 18:21But if the wicked man turns from all the sins he has committed, keeps all My statutes, and does what is just and right, he will surely live; he will not die.
- Matt 16:27For the Son of Man will come in His Father’s glory with His angels, and then He will repay each one according to what he has done.
- Matt 3:2and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”
- Luke 13:3No, I tell you. But unless you repent, you too will all perish.
- Ezek 14:6Therefore tell the house of Israel that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Repent and turn away from your idols; turn your faces away from all your abominations.
- Ezek 7:3The end is now upon you, and I will unleash My anger against you. I will judge you according to your ways and repay you for all your abominations.
- Hos 12:6But you must return to your God, maintaining love and justice, and always waiting on your God.
- Luke 13:5No, I tell you. But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”
- Dan 9:13Just as it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us, yet we have not sought the favor of the LORD our God by turning from our iniquities and giving attention to Your truth.
- Joel 2:12–13“Yet even now,” declares the LORD, “return to Me with all your heart, with fasting, weeping, and mourning.”
- Ezek 33:11Say to them: ‘As surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked should turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’
- Matt 3:8Produce fruit, then, in keeping with repentance.
- Ezek 33:20Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ But I will judge each of you according to his ways, O house of Israel.”
- Eccl 12:14For God will bring every deed into judgment, along with every hidden thing, whether good or evil.
- Rev 2:16Therefore repent! Otherwise I will come to you shortly and wage war against them with the sword of My mouth.
- Rev 2:5Therefore, keep in mind how far you have fallen. Repent and perform the deeds you did at first. But if you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.
- Rev 2:21–23Even though I have given her time to repent of her immorality, she is unwilling.
- Rom 2:5But because of your hard and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.
- Ezek 34:20Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says to them: ‘Behold, I Myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep.
- Jas 1:15Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
- Rev 20:12And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne. And there were open books, and one of them was the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their deeds, as recorded in the books.
- Matt 25:32All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate the people one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
- Rev 22:12“Behold, I am coming soon, and My reward is with Me, to give to each one according to what he has done.
- Gal 6:4–5Each one should test his own work. Then he will have reason to boast in himself alone, and not in someone else.
- Ezek 33:9But if you warn the wicked man to turn from his way, and he does not turn from it, he will die in his iniquity, but you will have saved your life.
- Ezek 7:8–9Very soon I will pour out My wrath upon you and vent My anger against you; I will judge you according to your ways and repay you for all your abominations.
- Mal 3:18So you will again distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.”
- Eccl 3:17I said in my heart, “God will judge the righteous and the wicked, since there is a time for every activity and every deed.”
- 2 Cor 5:10–11For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive his due for the things done in the body, whether good or bad.
- 1 Pet 1:17Since you call on a Father who judges each one’s work impartially, conduct yourselves in reverent fear during your stay as foreigners.
- Ezek 7:27The king will mourn, the prince will be clothed with despair, and the hands of the people of the land will tremble. I will deal with them according to their conduct, and I will judge them by their own standards. Then they will know that I am the LORD.’”
- Acts 26:20First to those in Damascus and Jerusalem, then to everyone in the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, I declared that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds worthy of their repentance.
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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 18:30 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
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