Ezekiel 18:28

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

Because he considers, and turns away from all his transgressions that he has committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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Word by word

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פְּשָׁעָ֖יו

peshaʻ

H6588

“transgressions · his”

Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct + Suffix, Personal, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular

Appears 93× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Genesis 31:36

Full BDB Definition

Origin: from H6586

TWOT: 1846a

transgression, rebellion - transgression (against individuals) - transgression (nation against nation) - transgression (against God) - in general - as recognised by sinner - as God deals with it - as God forgives - guilt of transgression - punishment for transgression - offering for transgression

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

11: words
9: distinct lemmas
Prophets: section

Grammatical profile

7 verbs
2 nouns
2 particles

Verb forms

וַיִּרְאֶ֣ה Qal · Sequential Imperfect
וישוב Qal · Sequential Imperfect
וַיָּ֔שָׁב Qal · Sequential Imperfect
עָשָׂ֑ה Qal · Perfect
חָי֥וֹ Qal · Infinitive Absolute
יִחְיֶ֖ה Qal · Imperfect
יָמֽוּת Qal · Imperfect

Repetition

Words recur within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:

וישוב to return H7725 ×2
חָי֥וֹ to live H2421 ×2

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 22 words from the Hebrew and 20 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 11 Hebrew tokens and 14 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Ezekiel 18:28 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Deuteronomy 32:29 Oh that they were wise, that they understood this, That they would consider their latter end!
Luke 15:17–18 But when he came to himself he said, 'How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough to spare, and I'm dying with hunger!
Colossians 3:5–9 Put to death therefore your members which are on the earth: sexual immorality, uncleanness, depraved passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry;
James 2:10–12 For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he has become guilty of all.
Psalms 119:1 Blessed are those whose ways are blameless, Who walk according to Yahweh's law.
Psalms 119:6 Then I wouldn't be disappointed, When I consider all of your commandments.
Psalms 119:59 I considered my ways, And turned my steps to your statutes.
Jeremiah 31:18–20 I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself [thus], You have chastised me, and I was chastised, as a calf unaccustomed [to the yoke]: turn you me, and I shall be turned; for you are Yahweh my God.

Ezekiel 12:3 Therefore, you son of man, prepare you stuff for removing, and remove by day in their sight; and you shall remove from your place to another place in their sight: it may be they will consider, though they are a rebellious house.
Ezekiel 18:14 Now, behold, if he fathers a son, who sees all his father's sins, which he has done, and fears, and does not such like;
Ezekiel 18:21 But if the wicked turn from all his sins that he has committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die.
Ezekiel 18:31 Cast away from you all your transgressions, in which you have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will you die, house of Israel?
Ezekiel 33:12 You, 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.
Titus 2:14 who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify for himself a people for his own possession, zealous for good works.
1 Samuel 7:3–4 Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying, If you do return to Yahweh with all your heart, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you, and direct your hearts to Yahweh, and serve him only; and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Ezekiel 18:28 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וַיִּרְאֶ֣ה וישוב וַיָּ֔שָׁב מִכָּל פְּשָׁעָ֖יו אֲשֶׁ֣ר עָשָׂ֑ה חָי֥וֹ יִחְיֶ֖ה לֹ֥א יָמֽוּת

Because he considers, and turns away from all his transgressions that he has committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Ezekiel 18:28 Septuagint · lemma form

καί ἀποστρέφω ἐκ πᾶς ὁ ἀσέβεια αὐτός ὅς ποιέω ζωή ζάω οὐ μή ἀποθνήσκω

and has turned away from all his ungodliness which he has committed: he shall surely live, he shall not die.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

Targum Jonathan Prophets (Joshua–Malachi)

וַחֲזָא וְתַב מִכָּל חוֹבוֹהִי דִי עֲבַד מֵיחָא יְחֵי לָא יְמוּת:

(no public-domain English translation for this verse)

Targum Jonathan — Aramaic: “Mikraot Gedolot” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “London "Chaldee Paraphrase," 1871” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on Ezekiel 18:28 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

Eze 18:28 Because he considereth, and turneth away from all his transgressions that he hath committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die.

Ver. 29. Because he considereth.] Consideration necessarily precedeth conversion. {Psa 119:59 Lam 3:40 Jer 8:6} The prodigal came to himself first, and then went home to his father. See on Eze 18:14.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown

considereth--the first step to repentance; for the ungodly do not consider either God or themselves (Deu 32:29; Psa 119:59-60; Luk 15:17-18).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

John Gill's Exposition

Yet saith the house of Israel, the way of the Lord is not equal,.... Though the case was put so many ways, and the thing was made so clear and plain, by the instances given; as, if a man was a just man, let his father be what he would, he should live; but, if his son was a wicked man, he should die; yet, if his son should do well, he should not die for his father's sins, his father only should suffer for his iniquity; and then again, on the one hand, if a seemingly righteous man become an apostate, he should be treated as such; but, on the other hand, if a wicked man repented and reformed, things would go well with him; by all which it most clearly appeared that God did not, and would not, punish children for the sins of their fathers, unless they themselves were guilty of the same; and that the methods of Providence in dealing with men in this world, as they were good or bad, were equal and right, and to be justified:

O house of Israel, are not my ways equal? are not your ways unequal? This is an appeal to their own consciences, upon the evidence before given.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations

God’s promise is to pardon, spare, and preserve the penitent, such therefore shall not die.

Considereth: see Eze 18:14.

Turneth; converteth: see Eze 18:21.

He shall surely live, he shall not die: secure, self-justifying sinners misapprehend the justice of God, as we have heard, and repenting sinners are apt to mistrust the mercy of God, and therefore it is doubly assured in this promise.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

John Wesley's Explanatory Notes

He shall surely live - "That is, he shall be restored to the favour of God, which is the life of the soul."

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Ezekiel, in the Prophets, opens this verse with 11 words (9 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is peshaʻ (“transgression”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

How does “transgression” (peshaʻ) shape what this verse is saying?
Deuteronomy 32:29 shares this passage’s theme. How do the two illuminate each other?
“to return” occurs 2× in this one verse. What is the effect of the repetition?
These translations render this verse differently. What is at stake in choosing one wording over another?
The verb «וַיִּרְאֶ֣ה» is Qal Sequential Imperfect. How does its form color the action?
Reading how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Jamieson, Fausset & Brown read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

This verse counts 11 Hebrew ↔ 14 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 13 words in this verse.
“to return” occurs 2× in this single verse.
9 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 11 words in this verse.