Ezekiel 20:31

Verse

When you offer your gifts, sacrificing your sons in the fire, you continue to defile yourselves with all your idols to this day. So should I be consulted by you, O house of Israel? As surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, I will not be consulted by you!

American Standard Version (1901)

and when ye offer your gifts, when ye make your sons to pass through the fire, do ye pollute yourselves with all your idols unto this day? and shall I be inquired of by you, O house of Israel? As I live, saith the Lord Jehovah, I will not be inquired of by you;

Bible in Basic English

And when you give your offerings, causing your sons to go through the fire, you make yourselves unclean with all your images to this day; and will you come to me for directions, O children of Israel? By my life, says the Lord, you will get no direction from me.

Douay-Rheims 1899

And you defile yourselves with all your: idols unto this day, in the offering of your gifts, when you make your children pass through the fire: and shall I answer you, O house of Israel? As I live, saith the Lord God, I will not answer you.

Free Bible Version

When you present your offerings to idols and sacrifice your children in the fire, you continue to make yourselves unclean with all your idols right up until now. So should I give you advice when you ask me, people of Israel? As I live, declares the Lord God, I'm not going to answer you!

King James (Authorized) Version

For when ye offer your gifts, when ye make your sons to pass through the fire, ye pollute yourselves with all your idols, even unto this day: and shall I be enquired of by you, O house of Israel? As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will not be enquired of by you.

Translation for Translators

When you sacrifice your children in the fire, you are still continuing to make yourselves unacceptable to me byworshiping your many idols. You Israeli people, should I allow you to inquirewhat I want you to do? I, Yahweh the Lord, say that as surely as I am alive, I will not answer if you inquire.'

Unlocked Literal Bible

When you offer up your gifts—when you cause your sons to pass through the fire—to this day you defile yourselves with all your idols. So why should I let you seek me, house of Israel? As I live—this is the Lord Yahweh's declaration—I will not allow you to seek me.

Noah Webster Bible

For when ye offer your gifts, when ye make your sons to pass through the fire, ye pollute yourselves with all your idols, even to this day: and shall I be inquired of by you, O house of Israel? As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will not be inquired of by you.

World English Bible

When you offer your gifts, when you make your sons pass through the fire, do you pollute yourselves with all your idols to this day? Should I be inquired of by you, house of Israel? As I live, says the Lord Yahweh, I will not be inquired of by you!

Young's Literal Translation

And in the offering of your gifts, In causing your sons to pass through fire, Ye are defiled by all your idols to this day, And I am sought by you, O house of Israel! I live — an affirmation of the Lord Jehovah, I am not sought by you.

Context

Israel’s Rebellion in the Land

³⁰Therefore tell the house of Israel that this is what the Lord GOD says: Will you defile yourselves the way your fathers did, prostituting yourselves with their abominations? ³¹When you offer your gifts, sacrificing your sons in the fire, you continue to defile yourselves with all your idols to this day. So should I be consulted by you, O house of Israel? As surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, I will not be consulted by you!

Summary

In Ezekiel 20:31, God expresses His disappointment with the Israelites for continuing their idolatrous practices by offering sacrifices to idols. Despite God's repeated warnings and efforts to bring them back to Him, the people persist in their rebellious ways. This verse serves as a reminder of the consequences of disobedience and the importance of wholehearted devotion to God. It underscores the need for repentance and turning away from sin to experience God's forgiveness and restoration.

Commentary

Adam Clarke
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
John Gill

Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

Ye pollute yourselves - This shows the sense in which God says, Eze 20:26, "I polluted them in their own gifts." They chose to pollute themselves, and I permitted them to do so. See on Eze 20:25 (note), Eze 20:26 (note).