Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Ezekiel 20:25 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 25. 25Wherefore I gave them also statutes that were not good, and judgments whereby they should not live;
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
The historical recital uses a severe and disputed statement about statutes that were not good within Israel's rebellion.
I said unto their children in the wilderness
This verse is one part of that explanation in Ezekiel 20:18–26. The complete section carries the connected meaning and how it should shape life.
Read It With
- Ezekiel 20:18–26
Read Ezekiel 20:25 with 20:18–26. By itself, “Wherefore I gave them also statutes that were not good, and judgments whereby they should not live” can be detached from the speaker, addressee, date, exilic horizon, visionary movement, or outcome that gives it force. The complete unit establishes: The next generation is told not to copy ancestors, yet rebels; the oracle says God gave statutes not good and allowed defilement through firstborn offerings in judgment.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Within the same chapter, this unit advances from “The Wilderness Generation Receives Sabbath and Statutes yet Rebels” into “The Children Repeat Rebellion and Receive Severe Consequences.” Its non-interchangeable contribution is: The next generation is told not to copy ancestors, yet rebels; the oracle says God gave statutes not good and allowed defilement through firstborn offerings in judgment. This verse's placement is specific: The historical recital uses a severe and disputed statement about statutes that were not good within Israel's rebellion.
Follow the Context
- The unit begins at 20:18 with the address, action, vision, lament, or measurement named in its title.
- The next generation is told not to copy ancestors, yet rebels; the oracle says God gave statutes not good and allowed defilement through firstborn offerings in judgment.
- By 20:26 the movement reaches its stated warning, promise, response, or transition before the next unit begins.
Phrase-by-Phrase Explanation
“statutes that were not good”
In plain language: This severe statement in verse 25 is interpreted in several ways, including judicial handing over, distorted practice, or ironic description. It must not be used to call abuse morally good.
The historical recital uses a severe and disputed statement about statutes that were not good within Israel's rebellion. The next generation is told not to copy ancestors, yet rebels; the oracle says God gave statutes not good and allowed defilement through firstborn offerings in judgment.
Why it matters: This severe statement in verse 25 is interpreted in several ways, including judicial handing over, distorted practice, or ironic description. It must not be used to call abuse morally good.
How certain? probableWhat This Verse Is Not Saying
The difficult claim about statutes not good does not authorize evil laws, child sacrifice, or calling cruelty divine.
What Remains True
The verse presents punitive handing-over language whose relation to firstborn practices and Torah remains debated. In Ezekiel 20:25, that bounded truth is carried through this verse's role: The historical recital uses a severe and disputed statement about statutes that were not good within Israel's rebellion.
How It Can Shape Life
- State the major readings, retain uncertainty, and reject harmful imitation. This verse directs that response through its exact role: The historical recital uses a severe and disputed statement about statutes that were not good within Israel's rebellion.
Teach It Back
Explain Ezekiel 20:25's precise role in Ezekiel 20:18–26: The historical recital uses a severe and disputed statement about statutes that were not good within Israel's rebellion. State how “The Children Repeat Rebellion and Receive Severe Consequences” controls the line, keep this uncertainty visible—The difficult verses do not call evil good, authorize child sacrifice, or make divine judgment simple; textual and theological alternatives must remain visible.—trace role to contextual meaning to enduring truth to application, and reject one use the verse does not authorize.
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Continue in Context
Read the complete section for the connected explanation and how it should shape life. This verse is a doorway into that passage, not a saying that stands alone.
Read Ezekiel 20:18–26 — The Children Repeat Rebellion and Receive Severe ConsequencesSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
Responsible readings differ over composition, rhetoric, historical reconstruction, symbol, and later reception. The preferred reading follows the complete unit and received-book placement while preserving this limit: The difficult verses do not call evil good, authorize child sacrifice, or make divine judgment simple; textual and theological alternatives must remain visible.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Exact location: Ezekiel 20:18–26, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Ezekiel
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology checked at the exact unit without treating morphology as a critical apparatus or interpretation.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Ezek.xml, OSIS 20:18–26
Open the fixed Hebrew Ezekiel file ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible Notes: Ezekiel
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2016; current official PDF
Supports: Verse-level controls for difficult Hebrew, syntax, older KJV language, dates, place names, textual issues, vision language, and material alternatives.
Exact location: Official NET Ezekiel PDF, exact translator, study, and textual notes attached to Ezekiel 20:18–26
Open the official NET Ezekiel PDF ↗modern scholarly book course
Ezekiel course: summary, outline, background, introductory issues, themes, and passage studies
Alan G. Padgett; revised by Tyler Mayfield
Enter the Bible, Luther Seminary, revised June 2023
Supports: Reader-oriented historical, literary, theological, and pastoral synthesis with visible alternatives and ancient-to-modern limits.
Exact location: Enter the Bible Ezekiel course, Outline and Theological Themes: responsibility, allegory, history, and Jerusalem judgment; applied to Ezekiel 20:18–26
Open the Enter the Bible Ezekiel course ↗open university study guide series
Jeremiah and Ezekiel: Ezekiel Parts 1-3 Study Guides
Joel S. Baden and Jacqueline Vayntrub
Yale Bible Study, 2024
Supports: Current university-level literary-historical synthesis and interpretive questions, including ethical attention to gendered rhetoric and the final vision.
Exact location: Yale Bible Study, Jeremiah and Ezekiel, Ezekiel Part 2 and Part 3 study guides: sign acts, responsibility, allegory, chapters 16 and 23, and Jerusalem's fall; applied to Ezekiel 20:18–26
Open the Yale Jeremiah and Ezekiel course ↗