What Does Ezekiel 3:27 Mean?
But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you shall say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD; he who hears, let him hear and respond; and he who holds back, let him hold back; for they are a rebellious house.
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 when I speak with thee, I will open thy mouth, and thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; He that heareth, let him hear; and he that forbeareth, let him forbear: for they are a rebellious house.THE KEY
The opened mouth delivers a word without compelling a response: Hebrew sets responsive hearing alongside the choice to cease.
THE MEANING
The word reaches you through a mouth opened by God, yet the speech does not erase your response. Hearing here carries the sense of receiving and answering, while refraining is also named plainly. The rebellious house shows that refusal can persist even where the word is spoken.
THE ROOT
הַשֹּׁמֵעַ יִשְׁמָע
ha-shōmēaʿ yišmāʿ
GROWS FROM
שמע
Hear, listen, heed; where response is implied, hear and respond.
“hears” in this verse is ha-shōmēaʿ yišmāʿ. The phrase repeats the root: “the one hearing, let him hear.” Hearing stays connected to response, so the verse describes more than sound reaching an ear; it describes an answer to the word.
ALSO GROWS
shemaʿ: Hear and respond; listen attentively.
שְׁמַע
This familiar command carries hearing into response, the sense active in the verse’s repeated call to hear.
shemuʿah: A report, tidings; something heard.
שְׁמוּעָה
This noun carries hearing into a received message, matching the spoken word that reaches the house.
וְהֶחָדֵל יֶחְדָּל
ve-heḥādēl yeḥdal
GROWS FROM
חדל
Cease, stop, refrain, leave off.
“holds back” in this verse is ve-heḥādēl yeḥdal. The second clause repeats its root just as the first does: “the one refraining, let him refrain.” Here “forbear” carries the concrete sense of ceasing or holding back, setting restraint alongside responsive hearing.
ALSO GROWS
ḥidlū: Cease! Stop! (plural command)
חִדְלוּ
This form makes the root’s sense of cessation vivid beside the verse’s repeated call to hear.
yeḥdal: He ceases; let him cease.
יֶחְדַּל
This is the verse’s own repeated verb, making refraining the counterpart to hearing’s repeated verb.
וּבְדַבְּרִי
u-ve-dabberî
GROWS FROM
דבר
Speak; the same root also names a word, matter, or thing.
“speak” in this verse is u-ve-dabberî. The act of speaking and the word carried by that speech grow from the same consonants. The mouth opens as speech arrives, so the utterance is presented as received and voiced.
ALSO GROWS
dābār: Word, matter, thing.
דָּבָר
The spoken word can also be a matter set before the hearers, the very thing to which they respond.
dibbēr: He spoke, uttered.
דִּבֵּר
This verb shares the seed of davar, tying the prophet’s speech to the word itself.
THE PATTERN
Once a word or choice is set before people, their response reveals whether they receive it, follow it, or refuse it.
I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your seed may live.My sheep hear and respond to my voice, and I perceive them, and they follow me.And some were persuaded by what was spoken, and others would not lean their weight upon it.THE THREAD
And they, whether they hear and respond, or whether they hold back, for they are a rebellious house, will perceive that a prophet has been among them.This verse uses the same roots for hearing (שמע, shamaʿ, hear and respond) and ceasing (חדל, ḥadal, refrain), within the same rebellious-house frame. It adds that even refusal does not erase the prophet’s presence, so the opened mouth is not measured by unanimous response.
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