“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.
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.
- BSB 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.
- 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 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 18:21“But if the wicked turns from all his sins that he has committed, and keeps all my statutes, and does that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live. He shall not die.
- Matt 16:27For the Son of Man will come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he will render to everyone according to his deeds.
- Matt 3:2“Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!”
- Luke 13:3I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all perish in the same way.
- Ezek 14:6“Therefore tell the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Return, and turn yourselves from your idols! Turn away your faces from all your abominations.
- Ezek 7:3Now is the end on you, and I will send my anger on you, and will judge you according to your ways. I will bring on you all your abominations.
- Hos 12:6Therefore turn to your God. Keep kindness and justice, and wait continually for your God.
- Luke 13:5I tell you, no, but, unless you repent, you will all perish in the same way.”
- Dan 9:13As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil has come on us: yet have we not entreated the favor of Yahweh our God, that we should turn from our iniquities, and have discernment in your truth.
- Joel 2:12–13“Yet even now,” says Yahweh, “turn to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning.”
- Ezek 33:11Tell them, As I live, says the Lord Yahweh, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn, turn from your evil ways; for why will you die, house of Israel?
- Matt 3:8Therefore produce fruit worthy of repentance!
- Ezek 33:20Yet you say, The way of the Lord is not equal. House of Israel, I will judge every one of you after his ways.
- Eccl 12:14For God will bring every work into judgment, with every hidden thing, whether it is good, or whether it is evil.
- Rev 2:16Repent therefore, or else I am coming to you quickly, and I will make war against them with the sword of my mouth.
- Rev 2:5Remember therefore from where you have fallen, and repent and do the first works; or else I am coming to you swiftly, and will move your lamp stand out of its place, unless you repent.
- Rev 2:21–23I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality.
- Rom 2:5But according to your hardness and unrepentant heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath, revelation, and of the righteous judgment of God;
- Ezek 34:20Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh to them: Behold, I, even I, will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep.
- Jas 1:15Then the lust, when it has conceived, bears sin; and the sin, when it is full grown, produces death.
- Rev 20:12I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and they opened books. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works.
- Matt 25:32Before him all the nations will be gathered, and he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
- Rev 22:12“Behold, I come quickly. My reward is with me, to repay to each man according to his work.
- Gal 6:4–5But let each man examine his own work, and then he will have reason to boast in himself, and not in someone else.
- Ezek 33:9Nevertheless, if you warn the wicked of his way to turn from it, and he doesn’t turn from his way; he shall die in his iniquity, but you have delivered your soul.
- Ezek 7:8–9Now I will shortly pour out my wrath on you, and accomplish my anger against you, and will judge you according to your ways. I will bring on you all your abominations.
- Mal 3:18Then you shall return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him who serves God and him who doesn’t serve him.
- Eccl 3:17I said in my heart, “God will judge the righteous and the wicked; for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.”
- 2 Cor 5:10–11For we must all be revealed before the judgment seat of Christ; that each one may receive the things in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
- 1 Pet 1:17If you call on him as Father, who without respect of persons judges according to each man’s work, pass the time of your living as foreigners here in reverent fear:
- Ezek 7:27The king will mourn, and the prince will be clothed with desolation. The hands of the people of the land will be troubled. I will do to them after their way, and according to their own judgments will I judge them; and they shall know that I am Yahweh.’”
- Acts 26:20but declared first to them of Damascus, at Jerusalem, and throughout all the country of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, doing works worthy of 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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