I gave them over to worthless decrees and regulations that would not lead to life.
Parallel translations
- WEB Moreover also I gave them statutes that were not good, and ordinances in which they should not live;
- KJV Wherefore I gave them also statutes that were not good, and judgments whereby 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;
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 let them go after the stubbornness of their hearts, that they might walk in their own counsels.
- Isa 66:4I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears on them; because when I called, no one answered; when I spoke, they didn’t listen; but they did that which was evil in my eyes, and chose that in which I didn’t delight.”
- Ezek 20:39“‘As for you, house of Israel, thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Go, everyone serve his idols, and hereafter also, if you will not listen to me; but you shall no more profane my holy name with your gifts, and with your idols.
- Ezek 20:26and I polluted them in their own gifts, in that they caused all that opens the womb to pass through the fire, that I might make them desolate, to the end that they might know that I am Yahweh.”’
- Ezek 14:9–11“‘“If the prophet is deceived and speaks a word, I, Yahweh, have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand on him, and will destroy him from among my people Israel.
- Deut 4:27–28Yahweh will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations, where Yahweh will lead you away.
- 2 Th 2:9–11even he whose coming is according to the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
- Deut 28:36Yahweh will bring you, and your king whom you will set over yourselves, to a nation that you have not known, you nor your fathers. There you will serve other gods of wood and stone.
- Rom 1:21–28Because, knowing God, they didn’t glorify him as God, neither gave thanks, but became vain in their reasoning, and their senseless heart was darkened.
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
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.