Discovery BoxEzekiel 20:18-30 
Context20:18 “‘But I said to their children 1 in the wilderness, “Do not follow the practices of your fathers; do not observe their regulations, 2 nor defile yourselves with their idols. 20:19 I am the Lord your God; follow my statutes, observe my regulations, and carry them out. 20:20 Treat my Sabbaths as holy 3 and they will be a reminder of our relationship, 4 and then you will know that I am the Lord your God.” 20:21 “‘But the children 5 rebelled against me, did not follow my statutes, did not observe my regulations by carrying them out (the one who obeys 6 them will live by them), and desecrated my Sabbaths. I decided to pour out 7 my rage on them and fully vent my anger against them in the wilderness. 20:22 But I refrained from doing so, 8 and acted instead for the sake of my reputation, so that I would not be profaned before the nations in whose sight I had brought them out. 20:23 I also swore 9 to them in the wilderness that I would scatter them among the nations and disperse them throughout the lands. 10 20:24 I did this 11 because they did not observe my regulations, they rejected my statutes, they desecrated my Sabbaths, and their eyes were fixed on 12 their fathers’ idols. 20:25 I also gave 13 them decrees 14 which were not good and regulations by which they could not live. 20:26 I declared them to be defiled because of their sacrifices 15 – they caused all their first born to pass through the fire 16 – so that I would devastate them, so that they will know that I am the Lord.’ 17
20:27 “Therefore, speak to the house of Israel, son of man, and tell them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: In this way too your fathers blasphemed me when they were unfaithful to me. 20:28 I brought them to the land which I swore 18 to give them, but whenever they saw any high hill or leafy tree, they offered their sacrifices there and presented the offerings that provoke me to anger. They offered their soothing aroma there and poured out their drink offerings. 20:29 So I said to them, What is this high place you go to?’” (So it is called “High Place” 19 to this day.)
20:30 “Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Will you defile yourselves like your fathers 20 and engage in prostitution with detestable idols?
1 tn Heb “sons,” reflecting the patriarchal idiom of the culture.
2 tn Or “standard of justice.” See Ezek 7:27.
3 tn Or “set apart my Sabbaths.”
4 tn Heb “and they will become a sign between me and you.”
5 tn Heb “sons.”
6 tn Or “carries them out.”
7 tn Heb “and I said/thought to pour out.”
8 tn Heb “drew my hand back.” This idiom also occurs in Lam 2:8 and Ps 74:11.
9 tn Heb “I lifted up my hand.”
10 sn Though the Pentateuch does not seem to know of this episode, Ps 106:26-27 may speak of God’s oath to exile the people before they had entered Canaan.
11 tn The words “I did this” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied for stylistic reasons. Verses 23-24 are one long sentence in the Hebrew text. The translation divides this sentence into two for stylistic reasons.
12 tn Or “they worshiped” (NCV, TEV, CEV); Heb “their eyes were on” or “were after” (cf. v. 16).
13 tn Or “permitted.”
sn The content of the verse is shocking: that God would “give” bad decrees. This probably does not refer to the Mosaic law but to the practices of the Canaanites who were left in the land in order to test Israel. See Judg 2:20-23, the note on “decrees” in v. 25, and the note on “pass through the fire” in v. 26.
14 tn The Hebrew term חֻקּוֹת (khuqot; translated “statutes” elsewhere in this chapter) is normally feminine. Here Ezekiel changes the form to masculine: חֻקִּים (khuqim). Further, they are not called “my decrees” as vv. 11 and 13 refer to “my statutes.” The change is a signal that Ezekiel is not talking about the same statutes in vv. 11 and 13, which lead to life.
15 tn Or “gifts.”
16 sn This act is prohibited in Deut 12:29-31 and Jer 7:31; 19:5; 32:35. See also 2 Kgs 21:6; 23:10. This custom indicates that the laws the Israelites were following were the disastrous laws of pagan nations (see Ezek 16:20-21).
17 sn God sometimes punishes sin by inciting the sinner to sin even more, as the biblical examples of divine hardening and deceit make clear. See Robert B. Chisholm, Jr., “Divine Hardening in the Old Testament,” BSac 153 (1996): 410-34; idem, “Does God Deceive?” BSac 155 (1998): 11-28. For other instances where the Lord causes individuals to act unwisely or even sinfully as punishment for sin, see 1 Sam 2:25; 2 Sam 17:14; 1 Kgs 12:15; 2 Chr 25:20.
18 tn Heb “which I lifted up my hand.”
19 tn The Hebrew word (“Bamah”) means “high place.”
20 tn Heb “in the way of your fathers.”
