What Does Ezekiel 17:20 Mean?
And I will spread my net upon him, and he shall be caught in my snare, and I will bring him to Babylon, and will plead with him there for the breach he has done against me.
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 I will spread my net upon him, and he shall be taken in my snare, and I will bring him to Babylon, and will plead with him there for his trespass that he hath trespassed against me.THE KEY
Hebrew repeats the root מָעַל in both “his trespass” and “he trespassed,” making betrayal and its breach one act.
THE MEANING
When trust is betrayed, distance does not erase the breach: the net closes, and the betrayer is brought before God. Capture and judgment are one movement; the act is named where escape seemed to put it beyond reach.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
I can escape the breach by getting far enough away.
THE ROOT
מַעֲלוֹ
maʿalo
GROWS FROM
מעל
מעל (maʿal): to act treacherously, deal faithlessly, violate trust.
The verse uses the same root for the noun “his trespass” and the verb “he trespassed.” Hebrew holds the breach and the betrayal together as one act against God.
ALSO GROWS
maʿal: To act treacherously or deal faithlessly.
מָעַל
This verb appears in the verse and names the betrayal itself.
maʿal: Treachery; a breach of trust.
מַעַל
This noun shows the breach as the substance of the act, not merely a mistake.
meʿilah: Treachery, trespass, or misappropriation.
מְעִילָה
It carries the same root consonants into another form of violating what is entrusted.
וְנִתְפַּשׂ
wenitpas
GROWS FROM
תפש
תפש (tāphaś): to seize, grasp, or take hold.
“caught” in this verse is wenitpas. “Taken” can sound like a bare outcome, while the Hebrew verb comes from the root for seizing and grasping. Beside the net and snare, it makes the capture a forceful taking hold.
ALSO GROWS
tāphaś: To seize, grasp, or take hold.
תָּפַשׂ
This is the root action beneath the verse’s “shall be taken.”
tōphēs: One who seizes, handles, or holds.
תֹּפֵשׂ
This form keeps the sense of active grasping present in the capture.
titpos: You seize or take hold.
תִּתְפֹּשׂ
The same consonants show the root’s direct action of taking hold.
THE PATTERN
A breach of trust does not vanish; it returns as capture and reckoning.
His own crookednesses catch the wicked, and he is held by the cords of his falling short.He digs a pit and hollows it out, and falls into the pit he works.Do not be led astray. God is not sneered at. For whatever a person sows, that also he reaps.THE THREAD
If a living soul misses the mark, crossing over against the LORD, and lies to his neighbor in what was placed in his hand to keep, or in what was held in common, or in what was torn away by force, or has pressed his neighbor;Leviticus doubles the same root: מַעַל (maʿal, trespass or treachery) and תִּמְעֹל (timʿol, act treacherously). Ezekiel’s “his trespass that he hath trespassed” echoes that pairing, naming the breach as betrayal of trust before God.
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