What Does Ezekiel 6:1 Mean?

And the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

Ezekiel 6:1 · SDV

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.

This verse in the King James

King James wording

King James Version

And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

THE KEY

Hebrew davar can mean both a spoken word and a matter, so the LORD’s word arrives as speech already carrying reality.

THE MEANING

The LORD’s word reaches you as an event and opens into speech. The verse holds arrival and utterance together: what comes to you is not only content to consider, but a matter that takes voice.

THE ROOT

דָּבָר

dābār

GROWS FROM

דבר

To speak; a word, matter, or thing.

The Hebrew noun can name what is spoken and the matter itself. English “word” foregrounds speech, while davar also carries the sense of something being put before you as a real matter.

ALSO GROWS

dibbēr: He spoke; addressed.

דִּבֵּר

This verb shows the speaking action within the same word-family as davar, the word that arrives here.

dĕvārîm: Words; matters or things.

דְּבָרִים

The plural preserves both uttered words and matters under discussion, a breadth the English word “word” can conceal.

THE PATTERN

The LORD’s word reaches a person and opens a path into speech and action.

After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, Do not fear, Abram. I am your shield, and your very great wages.

Genesis 15:1 · SDVThe word arrives and immediately takes voice as reassurance.

Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

Jeremiah 1:4 · SDVThe arrival opens into the speech that follows.

While Annas and Caiaphas were the chief priests, the word of God came upon John, the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness.

Luke 3:2 · SDVThe word reaches John and becomes the starting point of his proclamation.

THE THREAD

By the word of the LORD the heavens are made, and all their host by the breath of his mouth.

Psalm 33:6 · SDV

The same Hebrew davar appears here as the word by which the heavens are made. In Ezekiel, davar arrives to speak; in the psalm, it is speech through which reality takes shape.

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