Discovery BoxEzekiel 20:25 
Context20:25 I also gave 1 them decrees 2 which were not good and regulations by which they could not live.
Ezekiel 20:39
Context20:39 “‘As for you, O house of Israel, this is what the sovereign Lord says: Each of you go and serve your idols, 3 if you will not listen to me. 4 But my holy name will not be profaned 5 again by your sacrifices 6 and your idols.
1 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.
2 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.
3 sn Compare the irony here to Amos 4:4 and Jer 44:25.
4 tn Heb “and after, if you will not listen to me.” The translation leaves out “and after” for smoothness. The text is difficult. M. Greenberg (Ezekiel [AB], 1:374) suggests that it may mean “but afterwards, if you will not listen to me…” with an unspoken threat.
5 sn A similar concept may be found in Lev 18:21; 20:3.
6 tn Or “gifts.”
