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Ezekiel 18:1-2
New Catholic Bible
Ezekiel 18:1-2
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 18[a]
Individual Responsibility. 1 This word of the Lord came to me: 2 Why do you insist on repeating this proverb in the land of Israel:
The parents have eaten sour grapes,
and their children’s teeth are set on edge?
Footnotes
- Ezekiel 18:1 The life and thought of Israel were controlled by a clan morality. Ezekiel, however, sets down a revolutionary principle: retribution is individual, each person receiving what he or she deserves. It is authentic righteousness that is spoken of here, the point of departure for an examination of conscience by the people as a whole and by the individual (vv. 5-9). In Ezek 14:12, the new basis of moral judgment has already made its explicit entrance into the Bible. It is not only a reminder to everyone; it is first of all an exhortation to a personal conversion (see Ezek 14:12-23; 33:10-20).
