What Does Ezekiel 21:19 Mean?
And you, son of man, place two roads before you, that the sword of the king of Babylon may come, both coming forth out of one land. Choose a place, and choose it at the head of the road to the city.
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
Also, thou son of man, appoint thee two ways, that the sword of the king of Babylon may come: both twain shall come forth out of one land: and choose thou a place, choose it at the head of the way to the city.THE KEY
One land opens into two tracks, and the sword’s destination is determined at the head of the road before it reaches the city.
THE MEANING
You stand where two roads open from one land, and either route can bring the king of Babylon’s sword to the city. The choice is set at the road’s head, while the sword is still on its way.
THE ROOT
דְּרָכִים
derakhim
GROWS FROM
דרך
d-r-k
To tread or step, making a track; as a noun, a way or course.
“place two roads before you” in this verse is derakhim. The road is a track made by movement, not an abstract line. Two distinct courses open from the same land, each carrying the sword toward a destination.
ALSO GROWS
dāraḵ: To tread, step, or march; also to bend or ready a bow.
דָּרַךְ
This verb makes the way a course formed by movement, giving the two roads the force of distinct trajectories.
midrāḵ: A trodden place or track.
מִדְרָךְ
This branch brings the path down to the ground beneath the feet: the route is something made and followed.
בְּרֹאשׁ
berosh
GROWS FROM
ראש
r-ʾ-sh
Head, top, beginning, or first point.
The head of the road is its beginning, the point where its direction is first fixed. The verse places the decision before the city is reached, at the opening of the route.
ALSO GROWS
rēʾshīt: Beginning or first part.
רֵאשִׁית
This branch makes clear that the road’s “head” is its beginning, where the route is set.
riʾshōn: First or former.
רִאשׁוֹן
This branch echoes the verse’s placement of the decision at the first point of the road.
THE PATTERN
A choice at the opening of a route carries its consequences toward a destination before arrival makes them visible.
I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your seed may live.There is a way straight before a man, but its latter end is the ways of death.Enter through the narrow gate, for wide is the gate, and roomy is the way that leads to perishing, and many are those who go in through it. For narrow is the gate, and pressed in is the way that leads to life, and few are those who find it.THE THREAD
For the king of Babylon stood at the parting of the road, at the head of two roads, to use divination. He shook the arrows, asked the household figures, and looked in the liver.The next verse repeats דֶּרֶךְ (derek, way) and רֹאשׁ (rosh, head) as the king stands at the fork of the two roads. It shows the head of the road as the active point of decision, where the sword’s destination is selected.
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