Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sins shall die: The Hebrew particle hen rendered Behold (“Consider” in New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh) highlights this verse as important. In fact, this verse is a summary statement of the principle that contradicts the belief of the people being punished for the sins of their parents. The principle is the soul that sins shall die, which Good News Translation expresses as “The person who sins is the one who will die.” Underlying this principle is the claim all souls are mine, that is, God owns everyone and is in total control of everything about them. Good News Translation renders this clause well, saying “The life of every person belongs to me.” Father and son are not restricted to males, but rather mean “parent” and “child” of either sex (so New Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, New Living Translation, New Century Version, Revised English Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, Bible en français courant). The soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine may be rendered “The life of the parent is mine, and the life of the child is mine” (New Century Version).

Care must be taken with the Hebrew word nefesh translated souls and soul. Although many translations render it in this way (so Revised Standard Version, King James Version / New King James Version, New American Standard Bible, Moffatt), this word has nothing to do with the immaterial, immortal essence of a person. It refers either to an individual human being or to the life of a person. Therefore appropriate renderings are “life” and “person” and they can be interchanged as necessary to suit the sense (so New Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, New Living Translation, New Century Version, Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch).

Quoted with permission from Gross, Carl & Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Ezekiel. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .