What Does Ezekiel 3:10 Mean?
And he said to me, Son of man, take into your heart all my words that I speak to you, and hear and respond with your ears.
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
Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, all my words that I shall speak unto thee receive in thine heart, and hear with thine ears.THE KEY
In Hebrew, hearing carries the force of response: the spoken word is received in the heart and heard with attention.
THE MEANING
The words reaching you are received in the heart and heard with the ears; the verse holds inward reception and attentive hearing together. The speech is more than sound passing by: it meets the inner person and calls for a response.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It dissolves the idea that hearing is complete when sound reaches the ear; the verse pairs hearing with receiving the words in the heart.
THE ROOT
שְׁמַע
shemaʿ
GROWS FROM
שמע
Hear, listen, heed; in this context, hear and respond.
“hear and respond” in this verse is shemaʿ. The root can carry more than sound reaching the ear: it includes attentive hearing that responds. Here, receiving the words in the heart and hearing with the ears form one movement of attention.
ALSO GROWS
shamaʿ: Hear, listen, heed.
שָׁמַע
This related form shows the attentive force carried by the command to hear.
shemuʿah: Report, tidings; what is heard.
שְׁמוּעָה
The message itself bears the name of what reaches the hearer.
דְּבָרַי
devarai
GROWS FROM
דבר
Speak; word, matter, or thing.
The Hebrew uses the same root in “my words” and “that I shall speak.” What is received in the heart is the very speech being spoken; the noun and verb echo one another beneath the English wording.
ALSO GROWS
davar: Word, matter, thing.
דָּבָר
The word for what is spoken also carries the sense of a matter or thing.
dibber: Speak, say.
דִּבֵּר
This verbal form shares its root with “my words,” joining the utterance to what is received.
קַח
qaḥ
GROWS FROM
לקח
Take, receive.
“take into” in this verse is qaḥ. The verb translated “receive” is an imperative of taking. The same root also yields a word for instruction, bringing taking in and being taught into the same root family.
ALSO GROWS
lāqaḥ: Take, receive.
לָקַח
This is the basic verb behind the command to receive the words.
leqaḥ: Instruction, teaching.
לֶקַח
The related noun gives what is received the further sense of instruction taken in.
THE PATTERN
A spoken word becomes inwardly received as it is heard with attention.
And these words, which I command you this day, shall be in your heart.So then trust comes out of hearing, and hearing comes through the word of God.Therefore, taking off all dirt and the overflow of wickedness, in gentleness take in the planted word, which is able to deliver your living souls.THE THREAD
And these words, which I command you this day, shall be in your heart.Deuteronomy joins “these words” with the heart, echoing Ezekiel’s pairing of spoken words, inward reception, and hearing. Both passages use the Hebrew root דבר for words, linking what is spoken with what is taken into the heart.
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