What Does Ezekiel 18:23 Mean in the King James?
Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord GOD: and not that he should return from his ways, and live?
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The person called wicked is still addressed as someone who can return and live; their ruin is not what the LORD desires.
THE MEANING
Your destructive way is not your fixed identity: the LORD’s desire is not your death but your return from that way and your life. The verse holds your life open at the point of return.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that your worst path has made your ruin what God wants; the verse says the LORD desires your return from it and your life.
THE ROOT
וְשָׁב
wəshāv
GROWS FROM
שׁוּב
shuv
Turn back; return.
This return is a change of direction away from the path; the same root can also name restoration or being brought back. Hebrew holds turning and restoration within one root-family.
ALSO GROWS
teshuvah: Return; turning back.
תְּשׁוּבָה
This noun names return as a movement, illuminating the change of direction in the verse.
yeshovev: He restores; brings back.
יְשׁוֹבֵב
This form appears in Psalm 23:3 as “restoreth”; it reveals how return and restoration share a root.
אֶחְפֹּץ
ʾeḥpōṣ
GROWS FROM
חפץ
ḥāphēṣ
Desire; take pleasure in.
Ezekiel repeats this desire-word in the question, giving the LORD’s pleasure the focus. The answer follows: the person’s return and life are what the verse sets against death.
ALSO GROWS
ḥēpheṣ: Desire; pleasure.
חֵפֶץ
The noun names desire itself, showing that “pleasure” carries the force of what is wanted.
ḥāphaṣtî: I delight; I desire.
חָפָצְתִּי
Psalm 40:8 uses this form for delight that reaches into action; here, the LORD’s desire is expressed through the life held open.
וְחָיָה
wəḥāyâ
GROWS FROM
חיה
chayah
Live; be alive.
“live” in this verse is wəḥāyâ. The verb belongs to the same root-family as “alive” and “life.” Placed after return, it presents life as what opens with the change of direction.
ALSO GROWS
ḥay: Alive; living.
חַי
This adjective names the living state that the verb “live” opens toward.
ḥayyim: Life.
חַיִּים
This noun gives the life in the verse its concrete counterpart: return opens toward life.
THE PATTERN
Scripture presents turning from a destructive way as a movement toward life, not an identity sealed by wrongdoing.
Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.THE THREAD
He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.The Hebrew verb behind “restoreth” is יְשׁוֹבֵב (yeshovev, “restores”), from the same root שׁוּב (shuv, “return”) found in Ezekiel. The shared root lets these verses illuminate each other: the return the LORD desires is also a movement of restoration.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us