What Does Ezekiel 40:43 Mean?
And within were lips, a handbreadth wide, all around. And upon the tables was the flesh of the drawing near.
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
And within were hooks, an hand broad, fastened round about: and upon the tables was the flesh of the offering.THE KEY
Here, an offering is literally a drawing near, and the nearness arrives as flesh laid out on a table.
THE MEANING
Hooks are fixed around the interior, and the flesh of an offering lies on the tables; the verse keeps sacred nearness in the presence of bodily sacrifice. The reader meets approach as something material, exposed, and placed before them.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It unsettles the belief that nearness is only an inward feeling: here, approach is bound to flesh laid on a table.
THE ROOT
קָרְבָּן
qorbān
GROWS FROM
קרב
q-r-b
To approach, come near, or bring near.
“drawing near” in this verse is qorbān. The Hebrew word for “offering” grows from the root meaning “draw near.” Its flesh rests on tables: nearness arrives as something embodied and placed, not only as an inward idea.
ALSO GROWS
qārab: To approach or draw near.
קָרַב
This verb carries the movement named by the offering: coming near.
qārōv: Near or close.
קָרוֹב
The offering makes closeness something enacted through what is brought near.
הַשֻּׁלְחָנוֹת
hashulḥanot
GROWS FROM
שלח
sh-l-ḥ
To send forth, extend, or release; the table-word carries the image of provision extended outward.
The Hebrew table-word echoes שלח, “send forth” and “extend”: a table is where provision is laid out toward someone. Here, sacrificial flesh is exposed on the tables, making the scene of approach tangible.
ALSO GROWS
shālaḥ: To send forth, release, or stretch out.
שָׁלַח
The root’s movement outward illuminates provision extended toward those who receive it.
shulḥan: Table; a place where food is spread out.
שֻׁלְחָן
This is the singular form behind the tables bearing the offering’s flesh.
בְּשַׂר
besar
GROWS FROM
בשר
b-ś-r
Flesh; the same consonants also form a verb for announcing news.
The consonants ב־ש־ר name flesh and also the act of announcing good news. That echo does not soften the sacrificial body; it lets flesh and proclamation occupy the same word-shape.
ALSO GROWS
bāśār: Flesh or body.
בָּשָׂר
This is the bodily substance lying on the tables in the verse.
biśśēr: To announce or bring news.
בִּשֵּׂר
The shared consonants let the verse’s physical offering echo the language of proclamation.
THE PATTERN
Drawing near becomes visible when what is offered is brought into a shared, embodied space.
And when a living soul brings near a gift to the LORD, his drawing near is of fine flour; he pours oil upon it and sets frankincense upon it.You lay out a table before my face, in full view of those who press me. You make my head rich with oil; my cup is soaked full.Let us draw near with a true heart in the fullness of trust, our hearts sprinkled from a burdened shared sight, and our bodies bathed in clean waters.THE THREAD
And you set upon the table the bread of the face before me always.Exodus uses the same Hebrew word for table, שולחן (shulḥan), and places bread before God. Ezekiel’s tables bear sacrificial flesh; here the table bears bread, so both verses make approach visible through food set out in sacred space.
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