Ezekiel 18:23
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The context
Ezekiel 18 addresses exiles who complained that they were suffering for their parents' sins. The prophet answers with a series of cases and then a set of rhetorical questions. Verse 23 is one of those questions, and it is followed by a direct appeal to turn and live. The chapter is a dispute, not a meditation.
What it establishes
It establishes that the prophet denied any divine pleasure in the death of the wicked, and that he grounded the denial in God's stated preference for repentance. The question form invites the hearer to supply the answer.
What it does not establish
It does not settle the scope of salvation. The verse is addressed to the house of Israel inside a covenant warning, and it says what God takes pleasure in, not what finally happens to every person. Universalist and exclusivist readings both reach past what the question asks.
Short note, first pass, October 2026. Corrections welcome.
Cited in these answers
Part of Scripture, Opened — the exegetical layer behind every citation on this site. Scripture quotations are from the ESV.