What Does Ezekiel 45:6 Mean?
And you shall set the holding of the city, five thousand broad and five and twenty thousand long, facing the lifted portion of the set-apart portion. It shall be for the whole house of 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
And ye shall appoint the possession of the city five thousand broad, and five and twenty thousand long, over against the oblation of the holy portion: it shall be for the whole house of Israel.THE KEY
The city’s measured ground belongs within the sacred design, set beside the holy portion for the whole house of Israel.
THE MEANING
The city has a defined holding beside the set-apart portion, and the verse names it for the whole house of Israel. The arrangement includes both set-apart land and city space in the people’s shared provision.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that what is set apart leaves no place for everyone else dissolves here: a city holding for the whole house is measured beside it.
THE ROOT
רֹחַב
rochav
GROWS FROM
רָחַב
rachav
To become wide or spacious.
“broad” in this verse is rochav. The word for breadth comes from the root for becoming spacious. Here, that spaciousness takes a measured form: room for the city alongside the holy portion, assigned to the whole house of Israel.
ALSO GROWS
merchav: Open space; a broad place.
מֶרְחָב
It shows how the root can name an expanse of room, echoing the city’s measured ground.
rechov: A street or open public place.
רְחוֹב
It carries the same root into the shared spaces where city life unfolds.
אֲחֻזָּה
achuzzah
GROWS FROM
אָחַז
achaz
To take hold of or hold fast.
“holding” in this verse is achuzzah. The word for the city’s possession grows from a root meaning to hold. The verse names the holders explicitly: this estate is for the whole house of Israel.
ALSO GROWS
achaz: To grasp, seize, or hold.
אָחַז
It reveals the concrete sense of possession as land held in one’s grasp.
achuz: Held or taken hold of.
אָחוּז
This form shows the root describing what is held, as the city’s allotted estate is.
תְּרוּמָה
terumah
GROWS FROM
רוּם
rum
To rise, be high, or lift up.
“lifted portion” in this verse is terumah. תְּרוּמָה (terumah, a lifted contribution or portion) carries the sense of something raised or set apart. The city’s holding is measured in relation to this holy portion, placing shared civic space alongside what is set apart.
ALSO GROWS
rum: To rise or be high.
רוּם
It gives the root’s basic image of height or elevation.
marom: Height or a high place.
מָרוֹם
It extends the root’s image of elevation, helping show how the holy portion is marked as lifted or set apart.
THE PATTERN
Shared life becomes concrete through assigned land, places to dwell, and goods held in common.
Command the children of Israel to give the Levites cities to settle in from the inheritance of their holding, and you shall also give the Levites pasturelands for the cities round about them.And the five thousand that remain in the width, facing the twenty-five thousand, shall be a common place for the city, for settling, and for the pastureland. The city shall be in its midst.And all who trusted were together, and had all things in common.THE THREAD
And the five thousand that remain in the width, facing the twenty-five thousand, shall be a common place for the city, for settling, and for the pastureland. The city shall be in its midst.The repeated word רֹחַב (rochav, breadth) ties this city parcel to the later layout, which specifies the space for the city, its dwellings, and its suburbs. The detail shows the 5,000-wide portion as planned room for shared life beside the holy tract.
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