What Does Ezekiel 45:16 Mean?
All the people of the land shall give this lifted portion for the lifted one in Israel.
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
All the people of the land shall give this oblation for the prince in Israel.THE KEY
The prince’s provision rises from the whole community, joining the one who carries authority to the people who supply it.
THE MEANING
The whole community contributes toward the prince’s provision. The next verse shows the prince providing offerings for the community’s worship, so the passage traces a shared flow of resources and responsibility.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the idea that the prince’s provision is self-generated: the verse names the whole people of the land as its source.
THE ROOT
תְּרוּמָה
terumah
GROWS FROM
רוּם
rum
To rise, be high, or lift up.
“lifted portion” in this verse is terumah. תְּרוּמָה (terumah, contribution) carries the sense of a portion lifted up and set apart. The English word “oblation” can sound like a ritual object, while the root also reveals the action of raising a share from the whole community toward a common purpose.
ALSO GROWS
herim: Lifted up, raised.
הֵרִים
This verb makes the lifting within the contribution’s root visible: what is given is raised from what the community holds.
ram: High, exalted.
רָם
The same root connects the contribution with what is raised or elevated, adding a sense of setting a portion apart.
נָשִׂיא
nasi
GROWS FROM
נָשָׂא
nasa
To lift, carry, or bear.
“lifted one” in this verse is nasi. נָשִׂיא (nasi, prince) is related to נָשָׂא (nasa, to lift or carry), giving the title an image of one who is raised to office and bears responsibility. Set beside the lifted contribution, the verse joins communal provision to the one carrying governance; the next verse names the offerings the prince provides in turn.
ALSO GROWS
nasa: To lift, carry, or bear.
נָשָׂא
The verb behind the title brings the image of carrying responsibility into the verse’s account of the prince.
massa: A load, burden, or thing carried.
מַשָּׂא
This branch makes the carrying sense concrete: the office receives provision while bearing obligations.
THE PATTERN
Shared service is sustained when contributions from many people are gathered and directed toward a common purpose.
Speak to the children of Israel, that they bring me a lifted offering. From every man whose heart stirs him to give, you take my lifted offering.On the first day of the week, let each of you lay something by at his own side, storing it up, as his way has gone well for him, so that no gatherings are made when I come.THE THREAD
Speak to the children of Israel, that they bring me a lifted offering. From every man whose heart stirs him to give, you take my lifted offering.The offering in Exodus is תְּרוּמָה (terumah, contribution), the same word used for “oblation” here, from רוּם (rum, to rise or lift up). In Exodus the contribution is lifted toward the dwelling; in Ezekiel it is lifted toward the prince, linking what the community sets apart with the center it sustains.
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