The Soul Who Sins Will Die
1 Yahweh’s word came to me again, saying, 2 “What do you mean, that you use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge’? 3 “As I live,” says the Lord Yahweh, “you shall not use this proverb any more in Israel. 4 Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine. The soul who sins, he shall die. 5 “But if a man is just, and does that which is lawful and right, 6 and has not eaten on the mountains, hasn’t lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, hasn’t defiled his neighbor’s wife, hasn’t come near a woman in her impurity, 7 and has not wronged any, but has restored to the debtor his pledge, has taken nothing by robbery, has given his bread to the hungry, and has covered the naked with a garment; 8 he who hasn’t lent to them with interest, hasn’t taken any increase from them, who has withdrawn his hand from iniquity, has executed true justice between man and man, 9 has walked in my statutes, and has kept my ordinances, to deal truly; he is just, he shall surely live,” says the Lord Yahweh. 10 “If he fathers a son who is a robber who sheds blood, and who does any one of these things, 11 or who does not do any of those things but has eaten at the mountain shrines and defiled his neighbor’s wife, 12 has wronged the poor and needy, has taken by robbery, has not restored the pledge, and has lifted up his eyes to the idols, has committed abomination, 13 has lent with interest, and has taken increase from the poor, shall he then live? He shall not live. He has done all these abominations. He shall surely die. His blood will be on him. 14 “Now, behold, if he fathers a son who sees all his father’s sins which he has done, and fears, and doesn’t do likewise, 15 who hasn’t eaten on the mountains, hasn’t lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, hasn’t defiled his neighbor’s wife, 16 hasn’t wronged any, hasn’t taken anything to pledge, hasn’t taken by robbery, but has given his bread to the hungry, and has covered the naked with a garment; 17 who has withdrawn his hand from the poor, who hasn’t received interest or increase, has executed my ordinances, has walked in my statutes; he shall not die for the iniquity of his father. He shall surely live. 18 As for his father, because he cruelly oppressed, robbed his brother, and did that which is not good among his people, behold, he will die in his iniquity. 19 “Yet you say, ‘Why doesn’t the son bear the iniquity of the father?’ When the son has done that which is lawful and right, and has kept all my statutes, and has done them, he will surely live. 20 The soul who sins, he shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be on him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be on him.
A proverb that let a generation blame its parents is abolished, and three generations of one family are worked through to show why.
The proverb is quoted first, and it was evidently in general use: The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge. It is a complaint with an argument inside it. We are suffering for what our parents did; the sentence we are under is inherited; therefore our own conduct is beside the point. Anyone in Babylon could point to Manasseh and make the case.
The reply refuses the saying outright — you shall not use this proverb any more in Israel — and grounds the refusal in ownership rather than in fairness. All souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine. Every person stands in a direct relation to God, and no one is held in the account of somebody else. From that follows the principle the chapter is known for: The soul who sins, he shall die.
What gives the argument its force is that it is then worked out as a case study rather than asserted. A righteous man is described by what he does — no idolatry, no adultery, no oppression, the pledge restored, bread given to the hungry, no interest taken, honest judgment between men. He lives. His son is violent and does the opposite, item by item against the same list. He dies, and his father's righteousness does not save him. That son's own son sees what his father did and does not imitate it. He lives, and his father's wickedness does not condemn him. Three generations, the same checklist applied three times, and the verdict turning each time on the man in front of us.
The list itself is worth noticing, because it settles what the chapter means by righteousness. It is almost entirely about how a man treats his neighbor and his neighbor's property. Restoring the debtor's pledge and refusing interest appear twice, and feeding the hungry and clothing the naked stand beside abstaining from idols as items of equal weight. The conclusion is stated in a sentence that closes the proverb permanently: The righteousness of the righteous shall be on him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be on him.
settled What this mark means