What Does Ezekiel 21:21 Mean?
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.
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
For the king of Babylon stood at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use divination: he made his arrows bright, he consulted with images, he looked in the liver.THE KEY
At the “mother of the way,” where two courses open, the king seeks an answer from arrows, images, and a liver before either is walked.
THE MEANING
At a fork, uncertainty reaches for something that will make the unseen legible. Arrows, images, and a liver become surfaces on which a choice is read.
THE ROOT
הַדְּרָכִים
ha-derakhim
GROWS FROM
דרך
d-r-kh
To tread or step; the noun derekh, “way,” grows from this action.
“at the parting of the road” in this verse is ha-derakhim. The word translated “ways” names courses made by treading. The Hebrew calls the junction “the mother of the way,” then names two roads opening there: movement branches, and the king seeks direction from signs before walking either course.
ALSO GROWS
darakh: To tread, step
דָּרַךְ
It carries the physical action inside “way”: a course is something walked.
derekh: Way, road, course
דֶּרֶךְ
This is the word used for the two routes before the king.
קֶסֶם
qesem
GROWS FROM
קסם
q-s-m
To practice divination, seeking an answer through omens.
“to use divination” in this verse is qesem. The Hebrew repeats this root in a phrase meaning “to divine a divination.” At the fork, the act of seeking an answer is emphasized before the arrows, images, and liver are consulted.
ALSO GROWS
qasam: To divine, seek an answer through an omen
קָסַם
This verbal form names the king’s act of divining.
qosem: Diviner, one who practices divination
קֹסֵם
The same root names the person who seeks answers by this practice.
THE PATTERN
At moments of uncertainty, people use visible signs to seek a decision hidden from sight.
And they said each to his fellow, Come, let us make the lots fall, so that we may know on whose account this evil is upon us. So they made the lots fall, and the lot fell upon Jonah.The lot is thrown into the lap, but all its judgment is from the LORD.And they cast their lots, and the lot fell upon Matthias, and he was counted with the eleven sent ones.THE THREAD
Show me your ways, LORD; teach me your paths.“Ways” here is again derekh, the same word for the two courses in Ezekiel. The king consults arrows, images, and a liver at their branching point; the psalm asks God to show and teach the way itself.
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