What Does Ezekiel 36:16 Mean?

And the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

Ezekiel 36:16 · SDV

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.

This verse in the King James

King James wording

King James Version

Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

THE KEY

The LORD’s “word” is davar: speech and the matter it brings into view share one root.

THE MEANING

The verse presents the LORD’s word as an address that arrives and speaks to a person. That arrival brings the message into the present, where its words reach the reader now.

THE ROOT

דָּבָר

davar

GROWS FROM

ד־ב־ר

To speak or declare; the noun also means a matter or thing.

English “word” can sound like a label for speech, but davar also names a matter or thing. Here, what the LORD says and the matter being spoken meet in one root: the address arrives carrying what it will bring into view.

ALSO GROWS

dibber: He spoke, said

דִּבֵּר

The spoken form shows that davar is not only a message as an object; it is speech reaching someone.

davar: Word, matter, thing

דָּבָר

The noun holds speech and the matter it concerns together, giving the arriving word substance.

THE PATTERN

The LORD’s word arrives as an address whose speech carries the matter it brings into view.

After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, Do not fear, Abram. I am your shield, and your very great wages.

Genesis 15:1 · SDVThe LORD’s davar arrives to Abram as speech that also brings a promise into view.

By the word of the LORD the heavens are made, and all their host by the breath of his mouth.

Psalm 33:6 · SDVDavar is speech that brings the heavens into being, showing its force beyond the moment of hearing.

For the word of God is living and working, and sharper than any two-edged sword, reaching through even to the dividing of living soul and breath, of joints and marrow, and it separates the inward movements and thoughts of the heart.

Hebrews 4:12 · SDVGod’s word is living and active, reaching into the reader rather than remaining distant information.

THE THREAD

By the word of the LORD the heavens are made, and all their host by the breath of his mouth.

Psalm 33:6 · SDV

Ezekiel’s davar arrives as an address; Psalm 33:6 uses that same root for the word by which the heavens are made. The shared root joins speech directed to one person with speech that gives shape to creation.

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