What Does Ezekiel 38:5 Mean?
Persia, Cush, and Put with them; all of them with shield and helmet.
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
Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:THE KEY
The Hebrew word for “shield” also appears in a verb rendered “delivered,” placing bodily defense beside the question of who is put into whose hand.
THE MEANING
The verse gives the threat a visible form: named peoples stand together, equipped with shield and helmet. Their defenses are carried on the body, but this line leaves the outcome unresolved.
THE ROOT
מָגֵן
magen
GROWS FROM
מגן
m-g-n
To shield or defend; in a related verbal form, to deliver or hand over.
The shield is more than an object of defense: its consonants also appear in a verb rendered “delivered.” That shared word-family brings protection close to the question of who is placed into whose hand.
ALSO GROWS
magen: Shield; defensive covering.
מָגֵן
This is the protection the verse names as part of the coalition’s equipment.
miggen: Delivered or handed over (Genesis 14:20).
מִגֵּן
The related verb widens the image from defense to the transfer of power: someone is delivered into another’s hand.
THE PATTERN
Hostile power appears as a coalition made ready for conflict.
Gomer, and all his wings; the house of Togarmah from the far flanks of the north, and all his wings; and many peoples with you.Call this out among the nations. Set apart war. Wake the mighty ones. Let all the men of war draw near; let them come up.And I see the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to wage war against the one who sits on the horse, and against his army.THE THREAD
The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my rock, in whom I shelter; my shield, and the horn of my deliverance, and my high place.The Hebrew word מָגֵן (magen, shield) shares the root מגן (m-g-n) with the word rendered “buckler” here. In Ezekiel it belongs to an armed coalition; in this verse the same shield-word names personal refuge.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us