What Does Ezekiel 33:30 Mean?
Also, you, son of man, the children of your people still speak against you by the walls and in the doorways of the houses, and say to one another, each to his brother, saying, Come, I pray you, and hear the word that comes out from the LORD.
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
Also, thou son of man, the children of thy people still are talking against thee by the walls and in the doors of the houses, and speak one to another, every one to his brother, saying, Come, I pray you, and hear what is the word that cometh forth from the LORD.THE KEY
One Hebrew root holds both their talk about the messenger and the word from the LORD they want to hear.
THE MEANING
You can be the subject of other people’s talk while they are still eager to hear what comes through you from the LORD. The verse places conversation about the messenger beside an invitation to hear the message. Their eagerness shows attention, but it does not yet show what that hearing becomes.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Speaking against you does not prove that people will never seek what the LORD says through you; this scene holds both in their mouths.
THE ROOT
הַדָּבָר
ha-davar
GROWS FROM
ד־ב־ר
d-b-r
To speak; a word or matter.
The same ד־ב־ר root appears in the people’s “talking” about you and in the “word” they want to hear from the LORD. Hebrew keeps their talk about the messenger and the divine message in one word-family, placing both kinds of speech side by side.
ALSO GROWS
dibber: Speak or utter words.
דִּבֵּר
This is the root behind the people’s talking about the messenger.
davar: A word, matter, or message.
דָּבָר
This is the word they invite one another to hear from the LORD.
וּשְׁמָעוּ
u-shim'u
GROWS FROM
ש־מ־ע
sh-m-ʿ
To hear, listen, or heed.
The invitation uses a verb whose root can carry attentive, responsive hearing, though the invitation alone does not show the response. The next verse makes that distinction visible: they hear Ezekiel’s words but do not do them.
ALSO GROWS
shamaʿ: Hear or listen; when response is at stake, heed.
שָׁמַע
The people ask one another to hear, while the next verse shows that hearing may stop short of response.
shemuʿah: A report, tidings, or what is heard.
שְׁמוּעָה
The root links the act of listening with the message received.
THE PATTERN
Hearing a sacred word can be eager and public while remaining distinct from acting on it.
And the Lord says, Because this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips give me weight, but their heart has gone far from me, and their awe of me is a command of men, trained.Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house upon the rock.But be makers of the word, and not hearers only, miscounting yourselves.THE THREAD
They come to you as the people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear and respond to your words, but they will not do them; for with their mouth they show much love, but their heart walks after their cut-off gain.The “words” they hear here come from the same ד־ב־ר root as the “talking” and “word” in verse 30. The next line reveals the gap the invitation leaves open: the word reaches their ears, but they will not do it.
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