What Does Ezekiel 18:15 Mean?
who has not eaten upon the mountains, nor lifted up his eyes to the dung-idols of the house of Israel, nor defiled his neighbor's wife,
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
That hath not eaten upon the mountains, neither hath lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, hath not defiled his neighbour’s wife,THE KEY
The verse treats appetite, gaze, and intimacy as one field: what you consume, what you revere, and how you regard another person disclose the same allegiance.
THE MEANING
In you, integrity spans appetite, attention, and intimacy: what you consume, what you turn toward, and how you honor another person’s marriage belong to one life. The verse describes someone who does not join mountain worship, direct his gaze toward Israel’s idols, or violate a neighbor’s marriage.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that worship can remain sincere while a neighbor’s marriage is treated as disposable is undone here: devotion and sexual integrity belong to the same life.
THE ROOT
נָשָׂא
nasa
GROWS FROM
נשא
to lift, carry, or bear
“lifted up” in this verse is nasa. English can make this sound like a merely visual gesture, but the Hebrew verb also means to carry or bear. In this phrase the eyes are actively directed toward the idols; the same root can describe bearing a burden, so the gaze is more than passive looking.
ALSO GROWS
massaʾ: a burden or load
מַשָּׂא
A burden is something carried; this branch makes the carrying sense of “lifted up” audible.
nasa ʿavon: to bear wrongdoing; in some contexts, to forgive it
נָשָׂא עָוֹן
The same verb used for lifting the eyes can also describe bearing guilt, showing how much meaning the English gesture leaves inside the Hebrew verb.
nasiʾ: a leader or prince
נָשִׂיא
This related form carries the sense of one raised up, extending the root’s movement from lifting to elevation.
אָכַל
ʾakal
GROWS FROM
אכל
to eat or consume
“eaten” in this verse is ʾakal. The verb and the Hebrew words for food grow from the same root, linking the act of eating with what is consumed. Here “upon the mountains” places that eating in a worship setting, so the meal also marks participation.
ALSO GROWS
ʾokhel: food
אֹכֶל
The noun for food shares the root of the act of eating, connecting appetite with what enters the body.
maʾakhal: food or something eaten
מַאֲכָל
This branch again keeps the meal and the act of consuming in one word-family, fitting the verse’s attention to appetite.
טִמֵּא
timmeʾ
GROWS FROM
טמא
to be unclean or to make unclean
“defiled” in this verse is timmeʾ. The root holds together the act of making unclean and the state of uncleanness. The verse names sexual violation as contamination, not merely as a broken rule.
ALSO GROWS
ṭamēʾ: unclean
טָמֵא
This adjective describes the state named by the root behind “defiled.”
ṭumʾāh: uncleanness or impurity
טֻמְאָה
This noun names the condition linked to the act of defiling in the verse.
THE PATTERN
Faithfulness is one whole life, visible both in the direction of worship and in how a person treats a neighbor.
A Psalm of David. LORD, who may sojourn in your tent? Who may settle on your set-apart mountain? He who walks whole, works alignment, and speaks truth in his heart.He has shown you, O human, what is good. And what does the LORD seek from you, but to do justice, and to hold fast to faithful love, and to walk low with your God?Clean and unstained service before God and Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widowed in their being pressed, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.THE THREAD
A Psalm of David. To you, LORD, I lift up my living soul.“Lift up” translates the same Hebrew verb, nasa (נָשָׂא, lift, carry, or bear), as Ezekiel’s phrase about lifting the eyes. The psalm directs that lifting toward the LORD, making the direction of the gaze the hinge between the verses.
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