What Does Ezekiel 16:13 Mean?
So you were adorned with gold and silver; your raiment was of fine linen, and silk, and embroidered work; you ate fine flour, and honey, and oil; and you were exceedingly beautiful, and you broke through into a kingdom.
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
Thus wast thou decked with gold and silver; and thy raiment was of fine linen, and silk, and broidered work; thou didst eat fine flour, and honey, and oil: and thou wast exceeding beautiful, and thou didst prosper into a kingdom.THE KEY
Prosperity here is a movement that carries adornment and nourishment into sovereignty.
THE MEANING
Here, you are clothed, fed, and adorned with abundance, and that abundance carries you toward a kingdom. Beauty is joined to what nourishes you and to the wider life growing around you; the verse holds them in one widening arc.
THE ROOT
וַתִּצְלְחִי
vatitslechi
GROWS FROM
צלח
To advance, succeed, or prosper.
“broke through into a kingdom” in this verse is vatitslechi. The verb holds prosperity as forward movement, not just a settled possession. Here that movement carries adornment and nourishment toward a kingdom.
ALSO GROWS
matsliach: prosperous; one who succeeds
מַצְלִיחַ
Genesis describes Joseph with this form of the same root, even while he is in his master’s Egyptian household; prosperity names forward movement within a constrained setting (Genesis 39:2).
yatsliach: will prosper; will succeed
יַצְלִיחַ
Psalm 1:3 uses this form for the fruit-bearing tree and the work that prospers, opening the word beyond political rise to continuing fruitfulness.
THE PATTERN
Received provision can ripen into visible fruitfulness and expanded stewardship.
And the LORD was with Joseph, and he was a man who broke through; and he was in the house of his master, the Egyptian.And he becomes like a tree planted by the channels of the waters, that gives its fruit in its season; its leaf does not wither; whatever he does, he breaks through.His lord said to him, Well done, good and steady servant. You have been steady over a few things; I will set you over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.THE THREAD
And he becomes like a tree planted by the channels of the waters, that gives its fruit in its season; its leaf does not wither; whatever he does, he breaks through.Ezekiel’s וַתִּצְלְחִי (vatitslechi, “you prospered”) and Psalm’s יַצְלִיחַ (yatsliach, “will prosper”) share the root צלח (tsalach, “advance or prosper”). The same forward-moving word reaches from flourishing into a kingdom to a tree yielding fruit in season.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
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