What Does Ezekiel 33:13 Mean in the King James?
When I shall say to the righteous, that he shall surely live; if he trust to his own righteousness, and commit iniquity, all his righteousnesses shall not be remembered; but for his iniquity that he hath committed, he shall die for it.
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
Alignment trusted as stored credit cannot erase the wrong your actions are making now.
THE MEANING
This verse speaks to you now: a past record of alignment does not guarantee life when your confidence rests in it while you do wrong. What you are doing now has consequence. The verse names that consequence plainly: he dies for the wrong he commits.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
“My righteous past guarantees life regardless of what I do now.”
THE ROOT
צִדְקָתוֹ
tsidqato
GROWS FROM
צדק
ts-d-q
To be right or just; alignment.
The word rendered “righteousness” belongs to the צדק (ts-d-q), alignment, family. Here the man trusts in his alignment as if it were something he owns, while his actions turn toward wrongdoing; the verse exposes the gap between a claimed record and a present course.
ALSO GROWS
tsedeq: Justice, rightness, alignment.
צֶדֶק
It shows that the verse’s righteousness carries the sense of being rightly aligned.
tsedaqah: Righteousness, just action, alignment.
צְדָקָה
It shares the same root and connects a person’s alignment with what that person does.
tsaddiq: A righteous or just person; one who is aligned.
צַדִּיק
It is the person-form of the same root whose alignment is at issue here.
בָּטַח
batach
GROWS FROM
בטח
b-ṭ-ḥ
To trust, feel secure, or rely confidently.
The verse links trust with a felt security: the man takes his own alignment as the ground of confidence. That security cannot protect him when his actions contradict the very alignment he trusts.
ALSO GROWS
betaḥ: Security, confidence.
בֶּטַח
It names the sense of safety carried by the same root as “trust.”
mivtaḥ: A place of security or refuge.
מִבְטָח
It shows how the root can describe what someone relies on for safety.
עָוֶל
ʿāwel
GROWS FROM
עול
ʿ-w-l
To act unjustly or do wrong.
“iniquity” in this verse is ʿāwel. The Hebrew עָוֶל (ʿāwel), wrongdoing or injustice, appears as something the man actively does. The contrast is between trusting his own alignment and committing acts that contradict it.
ALSO GROWS
ʿāwal: To act unjustly, do wrong.
עָוַל
The verb makes explicit that the verse concerns enacted wrongdoing.
ʿawlah: Injustice, wrongdoing.
עַוְלָה
This related noun keeps the focus on wrong as an action or condition, not an abstract label.
THE PATTERN
A claim of alignment cannot cancel the direction and consequence of what a person is doing now.
But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live? All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned: in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die.There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.Who will render to every man according to his deeds:THE THREAD
But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live? All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned: in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die.The word for righteousness in both verses comes from צדק (ts-d-q), alignment. Ezekiel 18:24 makes the turn explicit: when a person turns from that alignment and does wrong, the former record no longer stands in place of the present course.
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