Ezekiel 3:18 (WEB)

Passage

When I tell the wicked, ‘You will surely die;’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man will die in his iniquity; but I will require his blood at your hand.

Nearby Context

Ezekiel 3:16 At the end of seven days, Yahweh’s word came to me, saying,

Ezekiel 3:17 “Son of man, I have made you a watchman to the house of Israel. Therefore hear the word from my mouth, and warn them from me.

Ezekiel 3:18 When I tell the wicked, ‘You will surely die;’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man will die in his iniquity; but I will require his blood at your hand.

Ezekiel 3:19 Yet if you warn the wicked, and he doesn’t turn from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he will die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul.”

Ezekiel 3:20 “Again, when a righteous man turns from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he will die. Because you have not given him warning, he will die in his sin, and his righteous deeds which he has done will not be remembered; but I will require his blood at your hand.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "tell", "wicked", "surely", "give", "warning", and "speak". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "tell" and "wicked", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 17's "Son of man I have made you..." into verse 19's "Yet if you warn the wicked and...", so "tell" and "wicked" belong inside that flow. In Ezekiel context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "tell" and "wicked" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.