Wherefore I gave them also statutes that were not good, and judgments whereby they should not live;
Parallel translations
- WEB Moreover also I gave them statutes that were not good, and ordinances in which they should not live;
- BSB I also gave them over to statutes that were not good and ordinances by which they could not live.
- NKJV “Therefore I also gave them up to statutes that were not good, and judgments by which they could not live;
- NASB I also gave them statutes that were not good, and ordinances by which they could not live;
- NLT I gave them over to worthless decrees and regulations that would not lead to life.
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 says He gave them statutes that were not good and ordinances by which they could not live. This sobering verse describes God judicially handing rebels over to ruinous ways. Its precise meaning is debated among faithful interpreters.
Overview
Many understand this as God giving Israel over to the harmful 'statutes' of the pagan nations and their false worship, a judicial abandonment like Romans 1:24-28, where God hands sinners over to their chosen sins. Others see it as the law itself becoming an instrument of death to those who reject it (compare Romans 7:10). Either way, it is a judgment for persistent rebellion, not a flaw in God's good law, and it warns that to spurn God's truth is to be left to destructive lies.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Ps 81:12So I gave them up unto their own hearts’ lust: and they walked in their own counsels.
- Isa 66:4I 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.
- Ezek 20:39As 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.
- Ezek 20:26And 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.
- Ezek 14:9–11And 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.
- Deut 4:27–28And 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.
- 2 Th 2:9–11Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
- Deut 28:36The 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.
- Rom 1:21–28Because 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.
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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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 20:25 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.