What Does Ezekiel 18:6 Mean?
and 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, nor drawn near to a woman in her separation,
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 hath not eaten upon the mountains, neither hath lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, neither hath defiled his neighbour’s wife, neither hath come near to a menstruous woman,THE KEY
The verse makes appetite, the gaze, and bodily nearness one field of allegiance.
THE MEANING
This verse speaks of integrity as a whole life: what you receive, what draws your eyes, and how you approach another person’s body belong together. Its repeated “neither” portrays faithfulness through attention, worship, and restraint.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that private worship can be separated from bodily conduct or from the boundaries of another person’s relationship.
THE ROOT
יִקְרָב
yiqrav
GROWS FROM
קרב
Q-R-B
to draw near, approach
“drawn near” in this verse is yiqrav. The verb shares its root with words for being near and for drawing near through an offering. That links physical approach with the language of sacred approach: here, nearness is more than distance; it carries meaning and consequence.
ALSO GROWS
qarov: near
קָרוֹב
This everyday word for nearness grows from the same root as the verse’s “come near,” keeping proximity at the center of the passage.
qorban: drawing near; an offering brought near
קָרְבָּן
The same root names drawing near in worship, connecting embodied approach with the language of approach to God.
נָשָׂא עֵינָיו
nasa einav
GROWS FROM
נשא
N-S-ʾ
to lift, carry, or bear
“lifted up his eyes” in this verse is nasa einav. The verb rendered “lifted up” belongs to a root that also means to carry or bear, so the action is more than a passing glance. The verse places the direction of the eyes alongside appetite and bodily approach, making attention part of lived faithfulness.
ALSO GROWS
nasa: to lift, carry, or bear
נָשָׂא
This is the root’s central range; in the verse, the eyes are actively raised toward the idols.
massa: a burden or load
מַשָּׂא
This noun shares the root’s sense of carrying, revealing how the same Hebrew seed can describe both raising something and bearing something.
THE PATTERN
Biblical integrity joins the direction of worship with the boundaries kept in bodily and sexual relationships.
Clean of hands and clear of heart, he who does not lift up his living soul to emptiness, nor swears in deceit.For this is the will of God, your setting apart, that you hold yourselves away from sexual immorality.THE THREAD
But for me, drawing near to God is good; I have set my shelter in the Lord LORD, to recount all your works.“Draw near” here shares the root קרב (qarab) with Ezekiel’s “come near.” The same root links bodily proximity and approach to God, opening the verse’s boundary as a question of where nearness belongs.
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