What Does Ezekiel 26:1 Mean?
And it happened in the eleventh year, on the first day of the month, that the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
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 came to pass in the eleventh year, in the first day of the month, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,THE KEY
The Hebrew word davar names both speech and a matter, so the LORD’s word arrives already bound to what is lived.
THE MEANING
The verse marks a precise moment, then turns attention to the word of the LORD arriving and speaking. Hebrew davar can mean both “word” and “matter,” so the speech meets you as something entering what you are living now.
THE ROOT
דְּבַר
devar
GROWS FROM
דבר
to speak; as a noun, a word, matter, or thing
“word of the LORD” in this verse is devar. English makes a word sound like information and a matter sound like something separate, but Hebrew davar can name both. When the word arrives, speech is presented as something that becomes the matter before the hearer.
ALSO GROWS
dābār: word, matter, or thing
דָּבָר
The noun holds utterance and the matter being spoken of within the same word.
dibbēr: he spoke
דִּבֵּר
The verb shares the root, joining the word that arrives with the act of speaking.
THE PATTERN
The word is pictured as an encounter that comes to a person and speaks into the present.
After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, Do not fear, Abram. I am your shield, and your very great wages.Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,And a voice came to him, Rise, Peter; slaughter, and eat.THE THREAD
So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth. It shall not return to me empty, but shall do what I delight in, and shall break through in the thing to which I sent it.Isaiah uses the same Hebrew word, davar, for “word.” Here it goes forth and accomplishes its purpose, opening Ezekiel’s brief “came unto me” as speech that arrives with effect.
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