What Does Ezekiel 38:23 Mean?
Thus I will make myself great, and set myself apart; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they will perceive that I am 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
Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the LORD.THE KEY
The same root underlies “I will be known” and “they shall know”: judgment makes the LORD’s identity visible, and what the nations witness becomes what they know.
THE MEANING
The LORD makes his identity publicly visible among many nations, so knowing takes shape through what they witness. This disclosure comes through devastating judgment, holding revelation and destruction together.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that knowing the LORD is only a private claim: here, many nations see his acts and come to know who he is.
THE ROOT
וְנוֹדַעְתִּי
wenodaʿti
GROWS FROM
י־ד־ע
Know or perceive through encounter.
“perceive” in this verse is wenodaʿti. The verse uses this root first for “I will be known” and then for “they shall know.” Disclosure and knowing are one movement: what makes the LORD visible is what gives the nations their recognition.
ALSO GROWS
yādaʿ: Know, perceive through encounter.
יָדַע
This verb is the shared seed in both “I will be known” and “they shall know.”
daʿat: Knowing, knowledge.
דַּעַת
This noun carries the same root into the knowledge that follows the nations’ sight of the LORD’s acts.
וְהִתְגַּדִּלְתִּי
vehitgaddilti
GROWS FROM
ג־ד־ל
Grow or become great; in this verb form, magnify oneself.
“make myself great” in this verse is vehitgaddilti. The root holds growing great together with making oneself great. Here the LORD’s self-magnifying is joined directly to setting himself apart and becoming known among the nations.
ALSO GROWS
gādal: Grow, become great.
גָּדַל
The basic growth sense shows the root underlying the verse’s language of magnification.
gādōl: Great.
גָּדוֹל
This adjective names the greatness that the verse presents as becoming publicly visible.
וְהִתְקַדִּשְׁתִּי
vehitqaddashti
GROWS FROM
ק־ד־שׁ
Set apart, make sacred.
“set myself apart” in this verse is vehitqaddashti. The root carries the sense of being set apart. In this verse, that distinction is placed in public view: the LORD sets himself apart before many nations, who then know him.
ALSO GROWS
qādōsh: Set apart, sacred.
קָדוֹשׁ
This word shares the root’s language of distinction and sacredness.
miqdāsh: Sanctuary, set-apart place.
מִקְדָּשׁ
The sanctuary is a place marked by the same root’s sense of being set apart.
THE PATTERN
When the LORD’s acts become visible across peoples, witnessing becomes recognition of who the LORD is.
And the Egyptians will perceive that I am the LORD, when I show my weight upon the Great House, upon his chariots and upon his horsemen.The LORD makes his deliverance known. He uncovers his alignment before the eyes of the nations.Who will not stand in awe of you, Lord, and give weight to your name? For you alone are set apart, and all the nations come and bow down before your face, for your judgments are made visible.THE THREAD
The LORD is known in the judgment he makes; the wicked is snared in the deed of his own palms. Higgaion. Selah.Psalm 9:16 uses the same Hebrew root for “is known” and explicitly names the LORD’s judgment as the means of recognition. It opens Ezekiel’s verse further by making that movement plain: judgment is seen, and the LORD is known.
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