What Does Ezekiel 17:1 Mean?
And the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
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
And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,THE KEY
The Hebrew dabar holds “word” and “matter” together: what reaches you as speech is also something happening in your life.
THE MEANING
God’s word reaches you as an address: it is present to you, saying something. The Hebrew verb translated “came” also carries the sense of being or happening, so arrival and presence meet in this moment.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the idea that the word is only distant information: dabar can name both speech and a matter, so the address meets you as something present.
THE ROOT
דָּבָר
dābār
GROWS FROM
דבר
D-B-R
To speak; as a noun, a word, matter, or thing.
Dabar is not only a spoken sentence: the noun can also mean a matter or thing, while its verb means to speak. English “word” can sound like mere language, but the Hebrew holds speech and the matter spoken together.
ALSO GROWS
dibber: He spoke.
דִּבֵּר
The verb from the same root shows that the word is speech in motion, not just a label.
devarim: Words, matters, or things.
דְּבָרִים
This plural preserves the root’s link between what is said and the matter being spoken.
וַיְהִי
wayhi
GROWS FROM
היה
H-Y-H
To be, become, or happen.
The verb translated “came” is wayhi, a form of hayah: the Hebrew can be heard as “the word of the LORD was to me.” Arrival and presence overlap, the word happens to you as an address.
ALSO GROWS
hayah: To be, become, or happen.
הָיָה
This is the root verb behind the verse’s “came,” holding arrival close to being and happening.
yihyeh: He or it will be.
יִהְיֶה
This form keeps the same root’s sense of coming to be, linking the word’s arrival with its presence.
THE PATTERN
God’s word reaches a person as a present address, close enough to inhabit speech and disclose the heart.
But the word is very near to you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it.Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,For the word of God is living and working, and sharper than any two-edged sword, reaching through even to the dividing of living soul and breath, of joints and marrow, and it separates the inward movements and thoughts of the heart.THE THREAD
But the word is very near to you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it.The “word” in both verses is dabar (דָּבָר), a word that can also name a matter or thing. Ezekiel’s arriving address and Deuteronomy’s word near the mouth and heart reveal one movement: what comes to you is close enough to become speech.
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