Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked?” says the Lord Yahweh; “and not rather that he should return from his way, and live?
World English Bible
Ezekiel 18:23
This verse is examined in more than one Scripture Analysis section. Each lens is shown on its own terms, in the section's own words; GEBible reaches no verdict of its own.
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Examined in Scripture Analysis
Contradictions (1)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
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Does God take pleasure in the death of the wicked?
Deuteronomy 28:63 explicitly says YHWH will rejoice to wipe out and destroy the disobedient just as he rejoiced to bless them, while Ezekiel 18:23 has YHWH ask rhetorically whether he has any pleasure at all in the death of the wicked — answer: no, he wants them to repent and live.
Critical scholarship: Leans toward a genuine contradiction.
More on this question
The proposed answers and sources for each reading are on the question page.
Each section sets the viewpoints side by side; you weigh the evidence. Here, "critical scholarship" means academic study, not a value judgment. How this is built →
Other verses examined for the same kind of question or claim
Within each section, grouped by shared field or question type — not a cross-section comparison.
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This citation refers to this GEBible page — the verse and the analysis gathered here. To cite the underlying scholarship, cite those sources directly.
"Ezekiel 18:23 — Scripture Analysis" GEBible, https://gebible.app/analysis/verse/ezekiel/18/23?version=WEB (retrieved 26 August 2026).