What Does Ezekiel 12:23 Mean?
Therefore, say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD. I will stop this likeness, and they shall no more speak it as a likeness in Israel. But say to them, The days draw near, and the word of every sight.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Tell them therefore, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will make this proverb to cease, and they shall no more use it as a proverb in Israel; but say unto them, The days are at hand, and the effect of every vision.THE KEY
The proverb loses its power to postpone the vision when the days themselves draw near and its word reaches its appointed moment.
THE MEANING
The refrain that keeps pushing fulfillment into an endless future loses its force: the days are near, and the word carried by each vision is reaching its appointed moment. What is seen and what is spoken belong together; the vision is not left as an empty saying.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that delay proves every vision empty is undone here: the days have drawn near, and the word of the vision still stands.
THE ROOT
וּדְבַר
u-devar
GROWS FROM
ד־ב־ר
d-b-r
To speak; word, matter, or thing.
What the KJV calls the effect is Hebrew devar, the word of the vision. The Hebrew brings vision and word together: what is seen is spoken, and what is spoken is a matter moving toward its appointed moment.
ALSO GROWS
dābār: Word, matter, or thing.
דָּבָר
The verse names the vision’s word, letting speech and what comes to pass sit within the same Hebrew word-family.
dibbēr: Spoke or declared.
דִּבֵּר
The spoken declaration is not detached from the vision; it carries the vision’s word toward fulfillment.
מָשָׁל
māšāl
GROWS FROM
מ־שׁ־ל
m-sh-l
A saying or comparison; the same consonants also form a word for ruling or governing.
“speak it as a likeness” in this verse is māšāl. The same consonants appear in mōšēl, a ruler. The proverb can be heard as a saying that governs how the vision is received; this verse declares that its rule is ending as the days draw near.
ALSO GROWS
māšāl: Proverb, parable, or comparison.
מָשָׁל
This is the saying that has framed how people interpret the timing of the vision.
mōšēl: Ruler or one who governs.
מֹשֵׁל
The shared consonants illuminate how a repeated saying can govern what people expect from a vision.
קָרְבוּ
qārəvû
GROWS FROM
ק־ר־ב
q-r-b
To approach or draw near.
“draw near” in this verse is qārəvû. The Hebrew says the days have drawn near: they are the ones approaching. The same root connects nearness with drawing near, so the verse presents time as arriving rather than remaining at a distance.
ALSO GROWS
qārōv: Near or close.
קָרוֹב
It names the nearness that has become true of the days in this verse.
qorbān: A drawing near.
קָרְבָּן
The shared root makes nearness an approach, echoing the days that have come close.
THE PATTERN
A vision’s delay does not erase its word; the word reaches its appointed time and takes effect.
For the vision is yet for the appointed time, and at the end it will breathe and not lie. Though it lingers, wait for it. Because it will surely come, it will not stay behind.So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth. It shall not return to me empty, but shall do what I delight in, and shall break through in the thing to which I sent it.And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day these things come to be, because you did not lean your full weight on my words, which will be filled in their season.THE THREAD
Therefore, say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD. None of my words shall be drawn out any more. The word that I have spoken shall be done, says the Lord GOD.The word rendered effect in verse 23 is the same Hebrew word-family that appears as word here. Together, the verses move from days drawing near and the word of every vision to the declaration that the spoken word will no longer be prolonged.
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