What Does Ezekiel 42:1 Mean?
Then he brought me out into the outer court, along the road toward the north, and brought me to the chamber facing the cut-off place and standing before the building toward the north.
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
Then he brought me forth into the utter court, the way toward the north: and he brought me into the chamber that was over against the separate place, and which was before the building toward the north.THE KEY
The chamber is located opposite the “separate place,” so this vision reveals sacred space through the boundaries that distinguish one place from another.
THE MEANING
You meet this sacred space by being led through distinct zones: out into the outer court, then toward a chamber positioned across from the area set apart. The path and its boundaries give each place its relation, so what is hidden becomes visible one location at a time.
THE ROOT
וַיּוֹצִאֵנִי
wayyotsi’eni
GROWS FROM
יצא
to go out, come forth, emerge
“brought me forth” in this verse is wayyotsi’eni. The verb keeps the movement open: the seer is brought out and onward, rather than simply placed in a room. Here, the path itself is part of the revelation, as entry unfolds through distinct spaces.
ALSO GROWS
yatsa: to go out, come forth
יָצָא
This is the root verb beneath “brought me forth,” holding the focus on movement between places.
motsa: an exit, outlet, or going out
מוֹצָא
This branch gives the movement a visible passage or opening, echoing the way the verse specifies where the seer is brought.
yetsi’ah: a departure or going out
יְצִיאָה
This branch names the act of going out, showing that the verse’s first movement is part of what the vision reveals.
הַגִּזְרָה
haggizrah
GROWS FROM
גזר
to cut off, divide, or set a boundary; by extension, to decree or determine
“Separate place” carries the image of an area cut off or bounded. The chamber is made legible by its position opposite that distinct area, so division shapes how the whole space is seen.
ALSO GROWS
gazar: to cut off or divide
גָּזַר
The root’s basic image gives the “separate place” a sense of a boundary made by division.
gezerah: a decree or decision
גְּזֵרָה
A decree is something determined or set; this branch echoes how the divided area has a defined place in the vision.
THE PATTERN
Sacred space becomes visible through a guided passage across distinct, bounded places.
And you shall hang up the veil under the taches, so that you may bring in there, within the veil, the ark of the testimony; and the veil shall divide for you between the set-apart place and the most set-apart place.Afterward he brought me to the temple, and measured the posts, six forearms broad on the one side and six forearms broad on the other, which was the breadth of the pitched tent.For a tent is built, the first one, in which are the lampstand, the table, and the loaves laid out, which is called the set-apart place.THE THREAD
He brings me out into a broad place; he pulls me loose, because he delights in me.“Brought me forth” uses יָצָא (yatsa, to go out or come forth) in a causative form, the same root as Ezekiel’s being brought out. The psalm names the destination as a large place; Ezekiel shows that movement unfolding through an ordered threshold into the outer court.
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