If a man is righteous and does what is lawful and right: The first example of individual responsibility is a man who is righteous, that is, someone who is “truly good” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version), someone who respects God and obeys the rules of the covenant (see 3.20). Lawful renders the Hebrew term for the laws and legal judgments that regulate people’s lives (see the comments on 5.6, where it is translated “ordinances”). New Jerusalem Bible renders lawful as “law-abiding,” and Good News Translation has “honest.” Right renders the same Hebrew root as the word for righteous. Verse 5 may be translated “If a man does what the law requires and is a good man.”

Verses 5-9 form one long conditional sentence, which basically says “If a man does not do such-and-such bad things, and if he does such-and-such good things, then he is a good man.” For most languages it will be easier to change the structure as follows: “Think of a really good man. He does not do such-and-such bad things, and he does such-and-such good things. Therefore he is a truly good man.” This restructuring is quite acceptable. Bible en français courant does it by rendering verse 5 as “Consider the case of a man who does good by acting justly and honestly,” and so does Good News Translation with “Suppose there is a truly good man, righteous and honest.”

Verses 6-9a (the part between the long dashes) show why he is a good man, mainly listing the wicked things that he does not do, even though he could do them if he chose to. The list contains fourteen actions, eight of which are bad things that he does not do, and six are good things that he does. Much of the list is based on the laws in Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy. The actions are:

(1) He does not eat upon the mountains refers to the feasts that accompanied the worship of false gods in the shrines on the mountains. Contemporary English Version makes this explicit by saying “He refuses to eat meat sacrificed to foreign gods at local shrines,” but New Century Version is perhaps better with “He does not eat at the mountain places of worship.”
(2) [He does not] lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel means he does not worship the idols of the Israelites. Idols are statues of false gods (see 6.4). The house of Israel is not a building but the nation or people of Israel. New Century Version renders this clause as “He does not look to the idols of Israel for help,” but a better model is “He does not worship the idols [or, statues of other gods] of the people of Israel.”
(3) [He] does not defile his neighbor’s wife means he does not have sex with a woman who is the wife of another man in the community. According to Lev 18.20, a man who does this defiles himself, that is, makes himself ritually unclean. God says that this action makes the woman unclean. Bible en français courant renders this clause as “He does not dishonor someone else’s wife,” but if this is not clear, then translators may say “He does not dishonor a neighbor’s wife by having sex with her.”
(4) [He does not] approach a woman in her time of impurity means he does not have sex with a woman during her menstrual period. Lev 18.19 forbids people having sex at that time. Most languages will have a euphemistic way of referring to this. New Century Version says “He does not have sexual relations … with a woman during her time of monthly bleeding.”
(5) [He] does not oppress any one refers to any way in which rich people might take advantage of people who are weak (for example, by taking their property without paying a fair price for it). Good News Translation says “He doesn’t cheat … anyone” (similarly Contemporary English Version), New Century Version has “He does not mistreat anyone,” and Bible en français courant translates “He does not exploit … anyone” (similarly Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch).
(6) but [he] restores to the debtor his pledge: It was common for people who received a loan to give the lender something as security, as a promise to repay the loan. When they repaid the loan, the lender gave that item back to them. If they did not repay the loan, the lender was allowed to keep the item, but sometimes wicked lenders would keep it even if they were repaid. The item that was exchanged as security is called a pledge. Revised Standard Version changes the Hebrew text slightly here (so also King James Version, New American Standard Bible, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). Revised English Bible follows the Hebrew by saying “he returns the debtor’s pledge,” that is, the good man gives back the pledge when the borrower repays the loan. The readings in Revised Standard Version and Revised English Bible have almost the same meaning. A good model for this clause is “He gives back at the right time what the borrower gave to him as security.”
(7) [He] commits no robbery refers to robbery with violence, taking something by force (compare Lev 19.13). This clause may be rendered “He doesn’t rob anyone.”
(8) [He] gives his bread to the hungry: The good man cares for the poor in the community. The Hebrew word for bread is a general word for “food” (Contemporary English Version, New International Version, New Living Translation, Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible), so this clause may be rendered “He gives food to people who are hungry” or simply “he feeds the hungry” (Good News Translation).
(9) [He] covers the naked with a garment is also a positive action of caring for the poor. This clause may be translated “He gives clothes to those who have none” (similarly New Century Version, Revised English Bible).
(10) [He] does not lend at interest or take any increase is based on Lev 25.36-37. There may be no difference in meaning between the Hebrew words for interest and increase, so translators may render these two clauses as “He doesn’t charge interest when lending money” (similarly Contemporary English Version). Some translations try to distinguish the two terms by introducing the idea of “excessive interest” (New International Version) or “usury” (King James Version / New King James Version, New American Bible) for one of the terms, but this is not warranted. Other translations distinguish them in a different way. They understand one of the terms to refer to interest deducted in advance, and the other to interest added at the time of repayment (so New Revised Standard Version, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). The difference between these two is as follows: Someone agrees to lend another person $100 at 10% interest. He may give the borrower only $90, although the borrower will have to pay back the full $100. The other $10 is interest deducted in advance. Alternatively, the lender may give the borrower the full $100, but demands that the borrower repay $110. This extra $10 is interest added at the time of repayment. Although we cannot be sure, this is probably the best interpretation. Therefore these two clauses may be rendered “He does not deduct interest when he loans money to someone, nor does he increase the amount that person owes him.”
(11) [He] withholds his hand from iniquity refers to “doing wrong” (New International Version, New Century Version), especially in legal matters (compare Lev 19.15, 35). It is the opposite of true justice. Withholds his hand from is an idiom for not doing something, so some translations say “refuses” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version), “abstains” (New Jerusalem Bible, Moffatt), or “stays away from” (New Living Translation). Since this list is primarily concerned with the powerful people in society, this clause is best translated “He avoids giving wrong and unfair decisions [in legal matters],” but it may also be expressed as “He refuses to get involved in doing wrong.”
(12) [He] executes true justice between man and man: The good man makes good, fair and honest legal decisions. He uses his power to promote true justice (opposite of iniquity) when he arbitrates in a dispute between two people. In Old Testament society only men were recognized at court, but in modern societies where the gender balance is more equal, between man and man is more appropriately rendered “between one person and another” (Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible). New Century Version renders this whole clause well, saying “He judges fairly between one person and another.”
(13) [He] walks in my statutes means he lives in obedience to God’s “laws” (Contemporary English Version, New Jerusalem Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh) or “rules” (New Century Version). The Hebrew word for statutes refers to the fixed laws made by a ruler or government (see the comments on 5.6). This action along with the next one summarize the previous twelve actions—they are a summary of what the good man does and does not do. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has made this clear by beginning verse 9 with “In a word,” which means “In summary.”
(14) [He] is careful to observe my ordinances: The good man “keeps” (Good News Translation, New International Version) or “obeys” (New Century Version) God’s laws. The Hebrew word for ordinances refers to the decisions made by rulers and judges in the law courts; they are the laws that regulate people’s everyday life (see the comments on 5.6). In its footnote on verse 9, Revised Standard Version admits to changing the Hebrew text to follow an alternate reading that is based on verse 19. Hebrew Old Testament Text Project tentatively supports this reading, a model for which is “He keeps my laws by doing them.” Instead of “by doing them,” the Hebrew text has “to do truth.” Some translations use an adverb to render this Hebrew expression; for example, “faithfully” (Contemporary English Version, New International Version, New Living Translation, New Century Version, New King James Version ), “loyally” (Revised English Bible), or “sincerely” (New Jerusalem Bible). Others express it as a separate clause; for example, “acting faithfully” (New Revised Standard Version; similarly Bible en français courant), “and acted honestly” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), or “to deal truly” (King James Version). By doing so, these translations in effect add a fifteenth item to the list. A model for this interpretation of the two clauses here is “He keeps my laws and is honest in everything he does.” This interpretation is preferable.

He is righteous, he shall surely live, says the Lord GOD: At the end of the list of vices and virtues, God repeats the topic he is righteous. He shall surely live is an emphatic expression that renders two different forms of the Hebrew verb meaning “live.” This clause means the good man will certainly escape the divine judgment that rests on the unfaithful Israelites. It refers only to the present situation of the exiles, and in translation there should not be any reference to eternal life. For says the Lord GOD, see Ezek 18.3. Bible en français courant (1982) restructures this last half of verse 9 to make it more natural, saying “Therefore, I, the Lord God, I declare that such a man is truly righteous and that he will live.” However, it is equally possible to follow the Hebrew pattern of putting God’s formal declaration at the end, as in “A person like this is truly good, and he will certainly live. I, the Lord Yahweh, declare this.”

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 .