What Does Ezekiel 24:19 Mean?
And the people said to me, Will you not tell us what these things are to us, that you do so?
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 the people said unto me, Wilt thou not tell us what these things are to us, that thou doest so?THE KEY
They are not asking only what they see; they are asking what the visible act declares about them.
THE MEANING
The question rises whenever a visible act reaches beyond the person doing it: what does this mean for us? You are not only watching what happens; you are asking what it reveals about the shared life around you. The question holds open the need for its meaning to be spoken plainly.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The false belief is that what happens in another person’s life has no bearing on you; this question insists that an act may concern the whole community.
THE ROOT
תַּגִּיד
taggid
GROWS FROM
נגד
to declare, make known; to bring into view
“tell” in this verse is taggid. The people ask with taggid, from נגד (n-g-d), “to declare, make known.” Related forms include neged, “in front of,” and maggid, “one who declares”; the family links what is placed before someone with the act of making it known. Their question asks for the act’s meaning to be made clear as something that concerns them all.
ALSO GROWS
maggid: one who declares or reports
מַגִּיד
Genesis 41:24 uses this same root for declaring what a dream means; here, too, the people ask for the significance of what they see.
neged: in front of, opposite, corresponding to
נֶגֶד
This related form evokes what is set before someone, fitting the question of what a visible act holds for those who witness it.
THE PATTERN
A visible sign reaches its meaning when people ask how it bears on them.
And it shall be, when your children say to you, “What is this service to you?”That this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask their fathers in the days to come, saying, What are these stones to you?But set apart the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you for a word about the hope within you, with gentleness and fear.THE THREAD
And the thin ears swallowed the seven good ears. And I told this to the magicians, but there was none who could set it before me.The word translated “declare” comes from the same root as Ezekiel’s “tell.” Here, too, the visible image raises a question whose meaning must be made known.
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