What Does Ezekiel 40:49 Mean?
The length of the porch was twenty forearms, and its breadth eleven forearms. Then he brought me by the rising steps by which they climbed to it, and there were pillars beside the posts, one on this side and one on that side.
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
The length of the porch was twenty cubits, and the breadth eleven cubits; and he brought me by the steps whereby they went up to it: and there were pillars by the posts, one on this side, and another on that side.THE KEY
The entrance is shaped as an ascent held by pillars: approach means both rising and being supported.
THE MEANING
You meet the house through a measured porch, steps rising toward it, and pillars standing on either side. Entry takes shape as both ascent and supported threshold, a passage with clear dimensions.
THE ROOT
מַעֲלוֹת
maʿalot
GROWS FROM
עלה
ʿ-l-h
To go up, rise, ascend.
“climbed to it” in this verse is maʿalot. English names the stairway; the Hebrew word carries the movement of ascent within it. The same root also gives words for ascent and for an offering that rises, placing these steps within a wider image of upward movement.
ALSO GROWS
ʿaliyah: Ascent, going up.
עֲלִיָּה
It makes explicit the upward movement already held inside the word for steps.
ʿolah: Burnt offering, literally an offering that rises.
עֹלָה
It shares the ascent-root and links upward movement with what rises toward the sacred.
THE PATTERN
Approach to divine presence is repeatedly pictured as an ascent toward a defined place.
And he dreamed, and behold, a ladder standing on the earth, and its head reached to the heavens; and behold, messengers of God were climbing up and coming down on it.Who climbs the mountain of the LORD? Who stands in his set-apart place?And he said to him, Truly, truly, I say to you, from now on you will see heaven standing open, and messengers of God going up and coming down upon the Son of Man.THE THREAD
And he dreamed, and behold, a ladder standing on the earth, and its head reached to the heavens; and behold, messengers of God were climbing up and coming down on it.The Hebrew behind “ascending” shares its root with the word for “steps” here: both carry the sense of going up. Ezekiel’s measured stairs and Jacob’s ladder reveal the same image of approach as a rising passage.
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