What Does Ezekiel 3:21 Mean?
But if you warn the aligned man, so that the aligned man does not miss the mark, and he does not miss, he shall surely live, because he is warned; also you have snatched your living soul.
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
Nevertheless if thou warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; also thou hast delivered thy soul.THE KEY
The warning is a form of light: it exposes a possible miss while the righteous person can still remain aligned.
THE MEANING
Being called righteous does not make you immune to a wrong turn: a warning can expose the miss before it becomes action, and receiving it preserves your life. The warning also delivers the one who gives it, so its reach includes both the hearer and the speaker.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that being righteous means you no longer need correction; here, warning is part of what preserves a righteous person’s life.
THE ROOT
הִזְהַרְתָּ
hizhartā
GROWS FROM
ז־ה־ר
z-h-r
To shine or be bright.
The verb translated “warn” comes from a root also used for shining. Warning, then, carries the sense of bringing something into view: it makes a possible danger visible while there is still time to avoid the miss.
ALSO GROWS
yazhiru: Shine brightly.
יַזְהִרוּ
Daniel 12:3 uses this form for the wise who shine, showing the same root’s connection between warning and illumination.
nizhar: Be warned; take heed.
נִזְהָר
Psalm 19:11 uses this form for a servant warned by instruction, linking warning with a course kept from harm.
יֶחֱטָא
yecheta
GROWS FROM
ח־ט־א
ḥ-ṭ-ʾ
To miss, err, or go wrong.
“does not miss the mark” in this verse is yecheta. The verb translated “sin” grows from the root for missing. The warning meets the miss while it is still a possibility, before the person completes the wrong turn.
ALSO GROWS
chet: A miss, fault, or wrongdoing.
חֵטְא
This related form names the deviation the warning can keep from becoming action.
chatta't: Wrongdoing or, in sacrificial contexts, an offering for the missing.
חַטָּאת
The same root links the verse’s “sin not” to the idea of missing, so the warning reaches the person at the threshold of that miss.
צַדִּיק
tsaddiq
GROWS FROM
צ־ד־ק
ṣ-d-q
To be right or just; alignment.
“aligned man” in this verse is tsaddiq. The person is called righteous, yet still needs a warning. The root makes righteousness sound like alignment that remains open to correction, rather than a label that makes someone immune to a wrong turn.
ALSO GROWS
tsedeq: Rightness, justice, or alignment.
צֶדֶק
This related form shows the quality named by “righteous” as a matter of being aligned.
tsedaqah: Righteousness or justice.
צְדָקָה
The shared root ties the person’s standing to a way of acting that can be kept from turning aside.
THE PATTERN
A warning received makes danger visible early enough for a person to turn from harm toward life.
Also by them your servant is warned; and in guarding them there is great reward at the heel.The ear that hears and responds to the reproof of life lodges in the midst of the wise.Let him know that the one who turns back one of those who miss the mark from the wandering of his way will deliver a living soul from death, and will cover a multitude of shortcomings.THE THREAD
And those who see shall shine as the brightness of the expanse, and those who bring many into alignment as the stars, for the ages and ages.Ezekiel’s verb for “warn” and Daniel’s verb for “shine” share the root ז־ה־ר (z-h-r), meaning to shine or be bright. The shared root joins warning as illumination that reveals a possible miss with Daniel’s image of people shining as they turn others toward alignment.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us