What Does Ezekiel 17:2 Mean?
Son of man, put forth a riddle, and speak a likeness to the house of Israel.
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
Son of man, put forth a riddle, and speak a parable unto the house of Israel;THE KEY
The verse makes concealment a mode of speech: truth is placed inside an image so it can be uncovered, not merely heard.
THE MEANING
The message comes shaped for discovery: the riddle conceals, while the parable gives that concealment an image. You are addressed as a human capable of moving from what the image shows toward the meaning it holds.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that a message is clear only when nothing is veiled; here, an image carries truth while leaving its meaning to be uncovered.
THE ROOT
חִידָה
ḥîdāh
GROWS FROM
חוד
To propound a riddle or speak enigmatically.
“put forth a riddle” in this verse is ḥîdāh. The verb for posing a riddle and the noun for the riddle share the same seed. The concealment is built into the act of speaking: what is hidden is given a form that can be opened.
ALSO GROWS
ḥûd: To propound a riddle.
חוּד
It names the act of putting a hidden saying before the hearer.
ḥîdôt: Riddles or enigmas.
חִידוֹת
The plural keeps the sense of meanings held inside a puzzling form.
מָשָׁל
māšāl
GROWS FROM
משל
To compare or liken; a saying that conveys meaning through comparison.
“speak a likeness” in this verse is māšāl. A parable is a comparison made speakable: one image carries another meaning within it. Hebrew keeps the act of likening and the parabolic saying close, where English can make them feel like separate ideas.
ALSO GROWS
māšal: To compare or liken.
מָשַׁל
The verb shows the movement by which a parable carries its meaning.
mĕšālîm: Proverbs or parables.
מְשָׁלִים
These sayings preserve the comparison in a form that invites interpretation.
בֶּן־אָדָם
ben-ʾādām
GROWS FROM
אדם
Ground, soil; the human as ground-born.
“Son of man” in this verse is ben-ʾādām. The address names a human being through אָדָם (adam), linked with אֲדָמָה (adamah), ground. The riddle is spoken to a ground-born human, placing the work of receiving and interpreting the image within human life.
ALSO GROWS
adamah: Ground or soil.
אֲדָמָה
It gives the earth-root beneath the name אָדָם.
adam: Human being or humankind.
אָדָם
It names the ground-being addressed by the verse.
THE PATTERN
A hidden truth can be carried by an image that asks the hearer to interpret it.
I will open my mouth in a likeness, and pour out riddles of old.To discern a proverb and its turned saying, the words of the wise and their enfolded riddles.Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables, and he spoke nothing to them without a parable.THE THREAD
I will open my mouth in a likeness, and pour out riddles of old.The Hebrew word translated “parable” is מָשָׁל (māšāl), the same word used in Ezekiel’s charge. Psalm 78 places that parable beside dark sayings, showing how an image can hold meaning for the reader to uncover.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us