Ezekiel 20:25 → Leviticus 18:5

Ezekiel 20:25 makes the difficult statement that God "gave them over to statutes that were not good and ordinances by which they could not live" (חֻקִּים לֹא טוֹבִים וּמִשְׁפָּטִים לֹא יִחְיוּ בָּהֶם, chuqqim lo tovim umishpatim lo yichyu bahem), directly inverting the Leviticus 18:5 formula that promised life through obedience. This shocking reversal—from "live by them" to "not live by them"—describes God's judicial response to persistent rebellion: since Israel refused the life-giving statutes, God gave them over to the consequences of their own corrupt practices. The contrast with Leviticus 18:5 highlights that the same God who offered life through Torah can withdraw that offer as an act of judgment when the law is persistently spurned. This judicial handing-over likely refers to Israel's own adoption of pagan practices such as child sacrifice (v. 26), showing that the corrupted statutes were self-inflicted consequences, not a divine contradiction of the Levitical promise.