What Does Ezekiel 25:16 Mean?
Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD. Behold, I will stretch out my hand upon the Philistines, and I will cut off the Cherethims, and destroy the remnant of the sea coast.
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
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will stretch out mine hand upon the Philistines, and I will cut off the Cherethims, and destroy the remnant of the sea coast.THE KEY
The verb כרת (karat, “cut off”) echoes the consonants in כְּרֵתִים (keretim, “Cherethims”), and the sentence reaches even what remains.
THE MEANING
The LORD’s hand reaches against the Philistines: the Cherethims are cut off, and the remaining sea-coast is made to perish. As you meet this verse now, its verdict gives no protection to what survives at the margin; the remnant is included in the destruction.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The false assurance this undoes is that whatever survives the first blow is therefore safe; here, what remains is still within the reach of destruction.
THE ROOT
וְהִכְרַתִּי
ve-hikhratti
GROWS FROM
כרת
Cut, sever, cut off.
The verb וְהִכְרַתִּי (ve-hikhratti, “and I will cut off”) shares the K-R-T consonants with כְּרֵתִים (keretim, “Cherethims”); the ethnonym’s derivation is uncertain, but the sound echo is audible. The same root appears in כָּרַת בְּרִית (karat berit, “cut a covenant”), so its range reaches from covenant-making to the violent severing named here.
ALSO GROWS
karat berit: Cut a covenant.
כָּרַת בְּרִית
The same verb that marks severing also describes establishing a covenant through a cutting act.
keritut: Severance; divorce, as in a divorce decree.
כְּרִיתוּת
This branch keeps the root’s sense of separation visible beneath the English wording.
שְׁאֵרִית
she’erit
GROWS FROM
שאר
sha’ar
Remain, be left over.
The Hebrew word for “remnant” belongs to the family of “remain” and “be left.” The verse names that very remainder as an object of destruction, so being left over does not mean being spared.
ALSO GROWS
sha’ar: To remain; to be left.
שָׁאַר
The verb names the condition that gives rise to a remnant.
she’ar: Remainder; rest.
שְׁאָר
This noun shares the root’s sense of what remains after the rest is gone.
וְהַאֲבַדְתִּי
ve-ha’avaddeti
GROWS FROM
אבד
avad
Be lost, perish; in the causative form, cause to perish.
The verb rendered “destroy” is a causative form of אבד (avad, “perish, be lost”). Its root gives the verse a severe ending: what remains is made to perish.
ALSO GROWS
avad: Perish; be lost.
אָבַד
This is the root verb behind the causative form in the verse.
avedah: A lost thing; something lost.
אֲבֵדָה
This related noun shows the root’s use for what has become lost.
THE PATTERN
The LORD’s hand is active reach: when it extends over a people, the act that follows changes their condition.
And the Egyptians shall perceive that I am the LORD, when I stretch out my hand upon Egypt and bring out the children of Israel from among them.Therefore the burning of the LORD's anger flares against his people, and he has stretched out his hand against them, and has struck them. The hills quaked, and their corpses lay like refuse in the midst of the streets. For all this, the burning of his anger has not turned back, but his hand is still stretched out.And now, look, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And at once a mist and a darkness fell on him, and he went about seeking hands to lead him.THE THREAD
For I will rise up against them, says the LORD of hosts, and cut off from Babylon the name and the remnant, the son and the offspring, says the LORD.Isaiah pairs the root כרת (karat, “cut off”) with שְׁאָר (she’ar, “remainder”), from the same שאר (sha’ar, “remain”) root family as Ezekiel’s “remnant.” The cutting reaches what is left over.
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