Ezekiel 13:18-19

13:18 and say ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Woe to those who sew bands ¹  on all their wrists ²  and make headbands ³  for heads of every size to entrap people’s lives! ⁴  Will you entrap my people’s lives, yet preserve your own lives? 13:19 You have profaned me among my people for handfuls of barley and scraps of bread. You have put to death people ⁵  who should not die and kept alive those who should not live by your lies to my people, who listen to lies!

Ezekiel 18:19

18:19 “Yet you say, ‘Why should the son not suffer ⁶  for his father’s iniquity?’ When the son does what is just and right, and observes all my statutes and carries them out, he will surely live.

Ezekiel 33:13

33:13 Suppose I tell the righteous that he will certainly live, but he becomes confident in his righteousness and commits iniquity. None of his righteous deeds will be remembered; because of the iniquity he has committed he will die.

[13:18]  ¹ sn The wristbands mentioned here probably represented magic bands or charms. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:413.

[13:18]  ² tn Heb “joints of the hands.” This may include the elbow and shoulder joints.

[13:18]  ³ tn The Hebrew term occurs in the Bible only here and in v. 21. It has also been understood as a veil or type of head covering. D. I. Block (Ezekiel [NICOT], 1:414) suggests that given the context of magical devices, the expected parallel to the magical arm bands, and the meaning of this Hebrew root (סָפַח [safakh, “to attach” or “join”]), it may refer to headbands or necklaces on which magical amulets were worn.

[13:18]  ⁴ tn Heb “human lives” or “souls” (three times in v. 18 and twice in v. 19).

[13:19]  ⁵ tn Heb “human lives” or “souls.”

[18:19]  ⁹ tn Heb “lift up, bear.”