What Does Ezekiel 14:7 Mean?
For every one of the house of Israel, or of the sojourner who sojourns in Israel, who pulls away from me, and lifts up his idols upon his heart, and sets the stumbling block of his crookedness before his face, and comes to a prophet to seek of him through me, I, the LORD, will answer him by myself.
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
For every one of the house of Israel, or of the stranger that sojourneth in Israel, which separateth himself from me, and setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to a prophet to enquire of him concerning me; I the LORD will answer him by myself:THE KEY
A question aimed at God can still be governed by the idol already enthroned in the heart.
THE MEANING
A person can seek an answer from God while fastening the heart to idols. That divided center places its own crookedness in front of the person’s sight, so the obstacle shaping the inquiry is already there. The LORD’s answer meets the person directly within that reality.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The question itself does not prove the heart is open; a person can seek God while an idol still governs the terms of seeing.
THE ROOT
מִכְשׁוֹל
mikshol
GROWS FROM
כשל
k-sh-l
To stumble, totter, or fall.
“stumblingblock” in this verse is mikshol. The verse calls this the stumbling block of the person’s crookedness, placed in front of their own face. The heart’s bent allegiance becomes an obstruction to sight and movement at once.
ALSO GROWS
kāshal: To stumble or fall.
כָּשַׁל
The fall is already contained in the word for the obstacle: what is held in the heart becomes what trips the person.
mikshol: A stumbling block or obstacle.
מִכְשׁוֹל
This is the word in the verse, joining the person’s crookedness to the obstruction in their path.
וְיִנָּזֵר
wə-yinnāzēr
GROWS FROM
נזר
n-z-r
To separate, withdraw, or set apart.
“pulls away” in this verse is wə-yinnāzēr. This verb shares its root with nāzîr, a person set apart, and nēzer, a consecration or crown. Separation is not neutral here: the person has withdrawn from the LORD while the heart remains devoted to idols.
ALSO GROWS
nāzîr: One set apart or consecrated.
נָזִיר
It shows that this root can describe a life marked by separation; here that separation is directed away from the LORD.
nēzer: A consecration or crown.
נֵזֶר
The shared root gives separation the sense of a chosen allegiance, now fixed on the idols in the heart.
לִדְרָשׁ־לוֹ
liḏrāš-lô
GROWS FROM
דרש
d-r-sh
To seek, inquire, or seek guidance.
“seek of him through me” in this verse is liḏrāš-lô. The verse places active seeking beside a heart already holding idols and a person already withdrawn from the LORD. The request reaches outward while allegiance is already placed elsewhere.
ALSO GROWS
dāraš: To seek or inquire.
דָּרַשׁ
This is the seeking expressed by the visit to the prophet.
midrāsh: An exposition or interpretation arising from inquiry.
מִדְרָשׁ
It preserves the root’s movement from seeking toward an answer or understanding.
THE PATTERN
What the heart treats as ultimate shapes the sight through which a person seeks and receives truth.
Therefore speak to them, and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD, Every man of the house of Israel who lifts up his idols upon his heart, and sets the stumbling block of his crookedness before his face, and comes to the prophet, I, the LORD, will answer him in his coming according to the multitude of his idols.Those who make them are like them, everyone who leans on them.Because, having known God, they did not give him weight as God, nor did they give thanks; but they were made empty in their reckonings, and their unjoined heart was darkened.THE THREAD
You shall not curse the deaf, nor set a stumbling block before the blind; but you shall stand in awe of your God. I am the LORD.Leviticus uses the same Hebrew word, מִכְשׁוֹל (mikshol), for an obstacle placed before a blind person. Ezekiel turns that image inward: crookedness becomes the obstacle before the questioner’s own face.
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