What Does Ezekiel 21:23 Mean?
And it shall be an empty divination in their eyes, to those who have sworn oaths. But he will call the crookedness to remembrance, that they may be seized.
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 it shall be unto them as a false divination in their sight, to them that have sworn oaths: but he will call to remembrance the iniquity, that they may be taken.THE KEY
What looks like a false sign does not erase what is being brought to remembrance; that very exposure becomes the way they are caught.
THE MEANING
When you dismiss what confronts you as false, the verse says that dismissal does not erase what is being brought to remembrance. What you thought was behind you comes into view and becomes the point at which you are caught. The oath offers no shelter from that exposure.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that judging a sign false, or having sworn an oath, makes you untouchable when wrongdoing is brought to light.
THE ROOT
מַזְכִּיר
mazkir
GROWS FROM
זכר
Remember, call to mind, mention (זכר, zakhar).
“call to remembrance” in this verse is mazkir. מַזְכִּיר (mazkir, calls to remembrance) comes from זכר (zakhar, remember or mention). Here remembrance actively brings what was hidden into view; the next phrase makes that recalling the hinge by which they are caught.
ALSO GROWS
zikaron: A remembrance or memorial.
זִכָּרוֹן
A memorial keeps something present in view, echoing how the verse brings the past into the present.
nizkar: Is remembered or brought to mind.
נִזְכָּר
This form makes clear that remembrance is something that happens to what was hidden: it is brought back into view.
לְהִתָּפֵשׂ
lehitappēs
GROWS FROM
תפשׂ
Take hold of, seize, catch (תפשׂ, tafas).
לְהִתָּפֵשׂ (lehitappēs, to be caught or seized) comes from תפשׂ (tafas, seize). Beside מַזְכִּיר (mazkir, brings to remembrance), the verse makes exposure the route to capture: what is recalled is what catches them.
ALSO GROWS
tāfaś: Seized, grasped, or taken hold of.
תָּפַשׂ
The root carries the concrete force of being physically caught, giving the verse’s ending a sharp edge.
nitpaś: Is caught or seized.
נִתְפַּשׂ
This related form makes the passive force explicit: the one taken is caught by another.
THE PATTERN
What is hidden or dismissed can still be brought into view, and the wrongdoing can become what catches its keeper.
They never say to their hearts that I remember all their harm. Now their own deeds surround them, and they are before my face.But if you will not do so, look, you have missed the mark against the LORD, and know that your falling short will find you.For there is nothing covered that will not be uncovered, and nothing hidden that will not be known.THE THREAD
Do not remember the shortcomings of my youth or my rebellions. According to your faithful love, remember me, for the sake of your goodness, LORD.Ezekiel’s מַזְכִּיר (mazkir, brings to remembrance) and Psalm’s תִּזְכֹּר (tizkor, remember) and זְכָר (zekhor, remember) share the root זכר (zakhar, remember). Psalm uses the same root first for what is not to be recalled and then for the speaker who is to be recalled, showing how remembrance actively determines what stands in view.
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