When the righteous turns from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, he shall even die therein.
Parallel translations
- KJV When the righteous turneth from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, he shall even die thereby.
- BSB If a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, he will die for it.
- NKJV When the righteous turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, he shall die because of it.
- NASB When the righteous turns from his righteousness and commits injustice, then he shall die in it.
- NLT For again I say, when righteous people turn away from their righteous behavior and turn to evil, they will die.
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
When a righteous man turns to evil, he will rightly die in that evil. God's dealing is perfectly fair.
Overview
God answers the charge of injustice by restating the principle: the righteous who abandons righteousness for sin dies in his sin. There is nothing unfair in holding a person accountable for the path he chooses. The verse upholds God's perfect justice against the people's complaint.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- Ezek 33:12–13You, son of man, tell the children of your people, The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him in the day of his disobedience; and as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall thereby in the day that he turns from his wickedness; neither shall he who is righteous be able to live thereby in the day that he sins.
- Heb 10:38But the righteous will live by faith. If he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.”
- 2 Pet 2:20–22For if, after they have escaped the defilement of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in it and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.
- Ezek 18:26–27When the righteous man turns away from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, and dies therein; in his iniquity that he has done shall he die.
- Ezek 3:20“Again, when a righteous man turns from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die. Because you have not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteous deeds which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at your hand.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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 33:18 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.