What Does Ezekiel 3:25 Mean?
But you, O son of man, behold, they shall set cords upon you, and bind you with them, and you shall not go out among them.
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
But thou, O son of man, behold, they shall put bands upon thee, and shall bind thee with them, and thou shalt not go out among them:THE KEY
The verse makes confinement visible as a human act: others bind you, and your going out among them is stopped.
THE MEANING
You stand inside a scene of imposed restraint: others fasten bands on you and stop you from going out among them. The limitation is bodily and public, and the verse names its human cause plainly.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The false belief that every restriction is self-imposed dissolves here: these bonds are placed on you by others.
THE ROOT
וַאֲסָרוּךָ
va'asaru-kha
GROWS FROM
אסר
ʾ-s-r
To bind or imprison.
“bind” in this verse is va'asaru-kha. The root links the act of binding with the state of being bound. Here, the cords are not merely present: other people use them to restrict your movement.
ALSO GROWS
asur: Bound; held captive.
אָסוּר
It names the condition created when the binding in this verse takes effect.
asir: Prisoner; captive.
אֲסִיר
This branch names a person through the restraint imposed on them, making the verse’s physical bonds a form of confinement.
תֵצֵא
tetse
GROWS FROM
יצא
y-ts-ʾ
To go out or come forth.
“go out” in this verse is tetse. The root names outward movement, and the verse explicitly denies it. Confinement is shown as blocked passage among other people, not as an abstract condition.
ALSO GROWS
yatsa: Went out; came forth.
יָצָא
This is the basic movement the verse says you cannot make.
motsa: Exit; outlet.
מוֹצָא
This branch names a way out, sharpening the contrast with the denied movement in the verse.
THE PATTERN
When people impose restraint, Scripture names the bonds and the lost movement directly.
Then Pashur struck Jeremiah the prophet, and set him in the stocks that were in the high gate of Benjamin, which was by the house of the LORD.And when he came to us, he lifted Paul's belt, and bound his own hands and feet, and said, Thus says the Set-Apart Breath, so will the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man whose belt this is, and will hand him over into the hands of the nations.For this cause therefore I have urged you, to see you and to speak with you, because of the hope of Israel I am encircled by this chain.THE THREAD
The breath of the Lord LORD is upon me, for the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the bowed ones; he has sent me to bind up the broken of heart, to proclaim flowing freedom to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are chained.Ezekiel’s verb וַאֲסָרוּךָ (va’asaru-kha, “they bind you”) and Isaiah’s אֲסוּרִים (asurim, “those bound”) grow from the same root, אָסַר (asar, “to bind”). Isaiah pairs that bound state with the opening of the prison, placing release beside the restraint named here.
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