the Week of Proper 25 / Ordinary 30
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Bishop's Bible
Ezekiel 20:25
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So I gave them laws that were not good. I gave them commands that would not bring life.
I gave them over to worthless decrees and regulations that would not lead to life.
"I also gave them statutes that were not good, and ordinances by which they could not live;
I also allowed them to follow rules that were not good and laws by which they could not live.
I also gave them decrees which were not good and regulations by which they could not live.
Moreover I also gave them statutes that were not good, and ordinances wherein they should not live;
Wherefore I gave them also statutes [that were] not good, and judgments by which they should not live;
"[Therefore] I also gave them statutes that were not good and ordinances by which they could not live;
Moreover, I gave them statutes that were not good and rules by which they could not have life,
Moreover also I gave them statutes that were not good, and ordinances in which they should not live;
Therfor and Y yaf to hem comaundementis not good, and domes in whiche thei schulen not lyue.
Moreover also I gave them statutes that were not good, and judgments wherein they should not live;
I also gave them over to statutes that were not good and ordinances by which they could not live.
I gave them laws that bring punishment instead of life,
Moreover also I gave them statutes that were not good, and ordinances wherein they should not live;
And further, I gave them rules which were not good and orders in which there was no life for them;
I also gave them laws which did them no good and rulings by which they did not live;
And I also gave them statutes that were not good, and ordinances whereby they should not live;
Wherefore I gave them also statutes that were not good, and ordinances whereby they should not live;
Wherefore I gaue them also statutes that were not good, and iudgements whereby they should not liue.
Then I gave them laws that were not good, and words they could not live by.
Moreover I gave them statutes that were not good and ordinances by which they could not live.
Wherefore I gaue them also statutes that were not good, and iudgements, wherein they should not liue.
Wherefore I gave them statutes that were not good and judgments whereby they could not live;
I myself, indeed, suffered them to walk in statutes which were not good, - And regulations in which they could not live.
Therefore I also gave them statutes that were not good, and judgments, in which they shall not live.
Moreover I gave them statutes that were not good and ordinances by which they could not have life;
So I gave them commandments that were not good, and ordinances in which they should not live.
"Then I gave them laws that are not good and commands that do not bring life.
I also gave them statutes that were not good and ordinances they could not live by.
Moreover also I gave them statutes that were not good, and ordinances in which they should not live;
Wherefore I gave them also statutes that were not good, and judgments whereby they should not live;
And in turn I gave to them rules that were not good and regulations by which they will not live.
Therefore I also gave them statutes that were not good, and judgments by which they could not live.
And I also, I have given to them statutes not good, And judgments by which they do not live.
Wherfore I gaue them also commaundementes not good, & lawes thorow the which they shulde not lyue,
"Therefore I also gave them up to statutes that were not good, and judgments by which they could not live;
"I also gave them statutes that were not good and ordinances by which they could not live;
And I also gave them statutes that were not good and judgments by which they could not live;
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
I gave: The simple meaning of this place is, that when the Israelites had rebelled against God, despised his statutes, and polluted his sabbaths, in effect cast him off, and given themselves up wholly to their idols, then He, in a just judgment for their disobedience, abandoned them, "gave them up to a reprobate mind," - Romans 1:28, and suffered them to walk after the idolatrous, cruel, and impious customs and ordinances of the heathen; by which they were ripened for the destruction which he intended to bring upon them, that they might learn to know God by his judgments, seeing they had despised his mercies. In the same sense God is said judicially to "send a strong delusion, that they should believe a lie," to those who "received not the love of the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." Ezekiel 20:26, Ezekiel 20:39, Ezekiel 14:9-11, Deuteronomy 4:27, Deuteronomy 4:28, Deuteronomy 28:36, Psalms 81:12, Isaiah 66:4, Romans 1:21-28, 2 Thessalonians 2:9-11
Reciprocal: Exodus 21:1 - the judgments 2 Samuel 12:11 - I will take 2 Samuel 16:11 - the Lord 2 Samuel 24:1 - moved Acts 7:42 - and gave
Gill's Notes on the Bible
Wherefore I gave them also statutes [that were] not good,.... Yea, were very bad; not the moral law, and the statutes of it; for that is holy, just, and good, though the killing letter and ministration of condemnation and death to the transgressors of it; indeed those laws were both good and bad to different persons, as Abendana observes; good to those that observed them, but not good to those that transgressed them, the issue of which was death: rather these were the statutes and rites of the ceremonial law, which were not in their own nature good; nor did they arise from the nature and holiness of God, but from his will; and though very good and useful under the legal dispensation, until the Messiah came, especially when attended to by faith, and with a view to him; yet had the sanction of death to many of them, that a man could not live by them: but it may be, the punishments inflicted on them for their sins, by the plague, by fire, and by serpents, are meant; which may be called "statutes" and "judgments", because ordered and appointed by the Lord, and according to justice: or, as many, both Jews and Christians, think, the idolatrous laws, usages, and customs of other nations, the traditions of their fathers, their wicked laws and statutes, and their own; which, being left to a reprobate mind, they were suffered to walk in, to their hurt and ruin; which is sometimes the sense of the word give; and so here, he "gave", that is, he permitted them to observe such statutes; and this sense is countenanced and confirmed by Ezekiel 20:26; to which agrees Jarchi's note,
"I delivered them into the hand of their imagination (or corrupt nature) to stumble at their iniquity;''
see Romans 1:28. Kimchi interprets them of laws, decrees, tribute, and taxes, imposed upon them by their enemies that conquered them. The Targum is,
"and I also, when they rebelled against my word, and would not obey my prophets, cast them far off, and delivered them into the hands of their enemies; and they went after their foolish imagination, and made decrees which were not right:''
and judgments, whereby they should not live; yea, which were deadly and destructive to them; which brought ruin, destruction, and death upon them; for more is designed than is expressed: this was the effect of following the customs of the nations, and of walking in the statutes of their fathers, and of their own; whereas, had they walked according to the judgments and statutes of God, moral and ceremonial, they had lived comfortably and prosperously.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
The probation in the wilderness. The promise was forfeited by those to whom it was first conditionally made, but was renewed to their children.
Ezekiel 20:11
The “statutes” were given on Mount Sinai, and repeated by Moses before his death (Exodus 20:1 ff; Deuteronomy 4:8).
In them - Or, through them: and in Ezekiel 20:13.
Ezekiel 20:12
See Exodus 31:13. The Sabbath was a sign of a special people, commemorative of the work of creation, and hallowed to the honor of Yahweh, the covenant-God. As man honored God by keeping the Sabbath holy, so by the Sabbath, God “sanctified” Israel and marked them as a holy people. Therefore to profane the Sabbath was to abjure their Divine Governor.
Ezekiel 20:13
My sabbaths they greatly polluted - Not by actual non-observance of the sabbatical rest in the wilderness, but in failing to make the day holy in deed as well as in name by earnest worship and true heart service.
Ezekiel 20:18
The book of Deuteronomy contains the address to “the children” of those who perished in the wilderness. The whole history of Israel was a repetition of this course. The covenant was made with one generation, broken by them, and then renewed to the next.
Ezekiel 20:25
The “judgments whereby they should not live” are those spoken of in Ezekiel 20:18, and are contrasted with the judgments in Ezekiel 20:13, Ezekiel 20:21, laws other than divine, to which God gives up those whom He afflicts with judicial blindness, because they have willfully closed their eyes, Psalms 81:12; Romans 1:24.
Ezekiel 20:26
To pass through - The word also means to “set apart,” as the firstborn to the Lord Exodus 13:12. They were bidden to “set apart” their firstborn males to the Lord. They “caused them to pass through the fire” to Moloch. An instance of their perversion of God’s laws.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse Ezekiel 20:25. I gave them also statutes that were not good — What a foolish noise has been made about this verse by critics, believers and infidels! How is it that God can be said "to give a people statutes that were not good, and judgments whereby they could not live?" I answer, in their sense of the words, God never gave any such, at any time, to any people. Let any man produce an example of this kind if he can; or show even the fragment of such a law, sanctioned by the Most High! The simple meaning of this place and all such places is, that when they had rebelled against the Lord, despised his statutes, and polluted his Sabbaths - in effect cast him off, and given themselves wholly to their idols, then he abandoned them, and they abandoned themselves to the customs and ordinances of the heathen. That this is the meaning of the words, requires no proof to them who are the least acquainted with the genius and idioms of the Hebrew language, in which God is a thousand times said to do, what in the course of his providence or justice he only permits to be done.
