Yet your people say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ But it is their way that is not just.
Parallel translations
- WEB Yet the children of your people say, The way of the Lord is not equal: but as for them, their way is not equal.
- KJV Yet the children of thy people say, The way of the Lord is not equal: but as for them, their way is not equal.
- NKJV “Yet the children of your people say, ‘The way of the Lord is not fair.’ But it is their way which is not fair!
- NASB “Yet your fellow citizens say, ‘The way of the Lord is not right,’ when it is their own way that is not right.
- NLT “Your people are saying, ‘The Lord isn’t doing what’s right,’ but it is they who are not doing what’s right.
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
The people complain that God's way is unfair, but God says it is their way that is crooked. They accuse God of injustice to excuse themselves.
Overview
Israel charges that 'the way of the Lord is not equal,' resenting that destiny turns on present repentance or rebellion. God turns the accusation back: it is their reasoning that is unjust. The exchange exposes the human tendency to fault God's righteousness rather than examine our own hearts, a posture the next verses dismantle.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Ezek 18:29Yet the house of Israel says, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Are My ways unjust, O house of Israel? Is it not your ways that are unjust?
- Matt 25:24–26Finally, the servant who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Master, I knew that you are a hard man, reaping where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed.
- Ezek 18:25Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Hear now, O house of Israel: Is it My way that is unjust? Is it not your ways that are unjust?
- Luke 19:21–22For I was afraid of you, because you are a harsh man. You withdraw what you did not deposit and reap what you did not sow.’
- Job 40:8Would you really annul My justice? Would you condemn Me to justify yourself?
- Job 35:2“Do you think this is just? You say, ‘I am more righteous than God.’
- 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.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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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 33:17 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.