What Does Ezekiel 42:17 Mean?
He measured the north side, five hundred reeds, all around with the measuring reed.
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
He measured the north side, five hundred reeds, with the measuring reed round about.THE KEY
The north side’s length belongs to a boundary traced all the way around, so the verse measures a whole, not an isolated edge.
THE MEANING
The north side receives a definite span, and the measuring reed traces the boundary round about. The repeated act makes the space legible as a whole: this side belongs to a circuit.
THE ROOT
סָבִיב
sāvîv
GROWS FROM
סבב
To turn, go around, or encircle.
“all around” in this verse is sāvîv. English gives the measurement a location; the Hebrew also echoes the act of circling around. That makes the north side one segment of a circuit, not a standalone number.
ALSO GROWS
savav: To turn, go around, or surround.
סָבַב
The verbal form makes the surrounding boundary an action traced around the space.
sevivah: The surroundings; the area around.
סְבִיבָה
This related form names what lies around something, bringing the measured side into its surrounding whole.
THE PATTERN
A measured boundary gives an otherwise open space a legible shape.
And behold, there was a wall outside the house all around, and in the man's hand a measuring reed of six forearms long, by the forearm and a handbreadth. He measured the breadth of the building, one reed, and its rising, one reed.I lifted my eyes again and looked, and there was a man with a measuring cord in his hand.A reed like a rod was given to me, and the messenger stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and those who bow down in it.THE THREAD
And behold, there was a wall outside the house all around, and in the man's hand a measuring reed of six forearms long, by the forearm and a handbreadth. He measured the breadth of the building, one reed, and its rising, one reed.This verse uses the same Hebrew root סבב (savav, to go around) in “round about,” alongside the measuring reed. It opens the north side’s span into a complete circuit that also gives the building its breadth and height.
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