Ezekiel 18 talks about how all souls belong to God and will be judged for iniquity or righteousness, based on how they have lived their life. In particular, the use of the word “get” in “get a new heart” captures my attention, because it suggests not using our current heart, but acquiring a new one. 31 These two verses show us that God does not want to see us die. However, it has been set that the wicked will die and the righteous will live, and God calls us to live. Therefore, we have to be righteous, to turn from our iniquities, because every soul will be judged for their own actions and lives, and cannot live or die by another’s righteousness or wickedness. This means we have to take responsibility for how we choose to live. 9 If And kept My judgments faithfully— He He shall surely live!” Says the Lord God. We ought to live like verse 9 says. This means we have to have love too. 1 Corinthians 13 3 May God guide us to live faithfully by God’s word so that we will surely live.

Ezekiel 17 talks about how God will save Israel and raise Israel up, while God will bring Babylon down. The last verse: 24 reminds me of another verse: James 4 6 “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.” which also relates to this verse: Proverbs 16 18 And a haughty spirit before [ 19 Than to divide the [ These verses show us that God delights in humility and will exalt the lowly, but those who are proud will be humbled by their fall, or perhaps by God. We can see that being proud is not an admirable quality to have and God also resists the proud, hence there is no reason to be proud. However, as humans, it can happen that we become proud due to different reasons, and these reasons point to our bruised inner world and how we are comparing ourselves to others, or exalting our own selves. Comparison with others also means one is judging them, and when one thinks of oneself as better than others, it is like this verse says: Matthew 7 3 Being blind to one's own weaknesses, one cannot even see others clearly. Matthew 7 4 When the plank is removed and one’s vision is restored, one can see the beauty in others and their strengths. Therefore, this chapter reminds us of lowliness and humility in our lives.