What Does Ezekiel 7:26 Mean?
Ruin upon ruin shall come, and hearing upon hearing shall be. Then they shall seek a sight from the prophet, but the instruction shall lose its way from the priest, and counsel from the elders.
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
Mischief shall come upon mischief, and rumour shall be upon rumour; then shall they seek a vision of the prophet; but the law shall perish from the priest, and counsel from the ancients.THE KEY
As calamity and reports multiply, the deeper crisis is that instruction and counsel disappear just when people seek a vision.
THE MEANING
When disaster compounds and reports pile up, you reach for a vision that can make sense of what is happening. Yet noise can increase while the sources of direction grow silent: teaching is lost, and wise counsel is absent.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie is that more reports automatically bring more clarity, or that crisis guarantees wise guidance will be available. Here, reports multiply while instruction and counsel disappear.
THE ROOT
תּוֹרָה
torah
GROWS FROM
ירה
yarah
To point, direct, or teach.
Torah is instruction, linked to yarah, to point or direct. What disappears here is the community’s bearing: people seek a vision while the teaching that gives direction is gone.
ALSO GROWS
yarah: To point, direct, or teach.
יָרָה
The root makes instruction an act of giving direction.
moreh: A teacher or instructor.
מוֹרֶה
The teacher is one who gives direction through instruction.
שְׁמוּעָה
shemuah
GROWS FROM
שמע
shama
To hear or listen.
“hearing” in this verse is shemuah. Shemuah is something heard: a report or tidings, not necessarily a falsehood. The crisis is that reports flood in while instruction no longer offers clarity, so more information does not restore direction.
ALSO GROWS
shama: To hear or listen.
שָׁמַע
The report belongs to the realm of hearing, whether or not it leads to understanding.
shema: Hear and respond.
שְׁמַע
The contrast shows the difference between receiving reports and hearing in a way that responds.
עֵצָה
etsah
GROWS FROM
יעץ
ya'ats
To advise, consult, or plan.
Etsah is practical judgment formed through counsel and planning. The collapse reaches beyond teaching: the shared process of weighing what to do also disappears.
ALSO GROWS
ya'ats: To advise, consult, or plan.
יָעַץ
The verb shows counsel as an active process of considering a course of action.
yo'ets: An adviser or counselor.
יוֹעֵץ
The counselor is the person who helps form that considered direction.
THE PATTERN
When crisis and noise multiply, the loss of trustworthy instruction leaves people searching for guidance without a steady source.
Behold, the days come, declares the Lord GOD, that I will send a hunger into the land, not a hunger for bread, nor a thirst for waters, but a hunger to hear and respond to the words of the LORD.And the child Samuel attended the LORD before Eli. And the word of the LORD was rare in those days, and no vision broke through.For a time will come when they will not bear healthy teaching, but according to their own desires they will heap up teachers for themselves, having itching ears.THE THREAD
Behold, the days come, declares the Lord GOD, that I will send a hunger into the land, not a hunger for bread, nor a thirst for waters, but a hunger to hear and respond to the words of the LORD.Ezekiel’s word for “rumour,” shemuah (שְׁמוּעָה), and Amos’s “hearing,” shamoa (שְׁמֹעַ), share the root shama (שמע), to hear. Reports can multiply while the hearing that receives the LORD’s words is starved.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us