What Does Ezra 7:17 Mean?
That you may buy speedily with this silver bullocks, rams, and lambs, with their grain gifts and their poured offerings, and draw them near upon the altar of the house of your God which is in Jerusalem.
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
That thou mayest buy speedily with this money bullocks, rams, lambs, with their meat offerings and their drink offerings, and offer them upon the altar of the house of your God which is in Jerusalem.THE KEY
The word translated “offer” means “bring near,” so sacrifice here is a physical act of approach.
THE MEANING
Here, devotion has material form: money becomes animals, grain, and wine, and they are brought near to God at the altar. The movement has a destination, Jerusalem, whose name carries the language of wholeness.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The sacred is only inward and detached from material life; here, nearness to God takes the form of tangible provision.
THE ROOT
וּתְקָרֵבִנּוּן
u-teqarevinnun
GROWS FROM
קרב
q-r-b
To approach, come near, or bring near.
“draw them near upon the altar” in this verse is u-teqarevinnun. The Aramaic verb translated “offer” means to bring these things near. The verse presents sacrifice as a concrete movement of approach, not merely an inward intention.
ALSO GROWS
qarov: Near.
קָרוֹב
This related Hebrew branch makes the nearness inside the verb audible: offering draws something close.
qorban: Offering, something brought near.
קָרְבָּן
The word for an offering shares the same root, linking the gift with the act of approach itself.
בִירוּשְׁלֶם
bi-Yerushlem
GROWS FROM
שלם
sh-l-m
To be whole or complete; the shalom element carries the sense of wholeness.
“Jerusalem” in this verse is bi-Yerushlem. The destination bears the language of wholeness. In the familiar form Yerushalayim, shalom carries the dual ending -ayim, placing the offerings’ movement toward God within the larger arc toward wholeness.
ALSO GROWS
shalom: Wholeness.
שָׁלוֹם
This is the wholeness carried in the city’s name and the horizon toward which the verse’s movement points.
shalem: Whole, complete.
שָׁלֵם
This branch makes the name’s sense concrete: the destination carries the quality of completeness.
מַדְבְּחָא
madbeḥā
GROWS FROM
דבח
d-b-ḥ
To slaughter or sacrifice.
The Aramaic name for the altar is built from the act of sacrifice. The word keeps the material cost of the verse in view: these offerings are brought near through an actual act at the altar.
ALSO GROWS
debaḥ: Sacrifice or slaughter.
דְּבַח
This verbal form names the act associated with the altar in the verse.
madbeḥā: Altar, place of sacrifice.
מַדְבְּחָא
The altar’s name ties the location directly to the act performed there.
THE PATTERN
Movement toward God takes visible form in what is brought near.
If his drawing near from the herd is a rising offering, he shall bring near a whole male to the opening of the tent of appointed meeting, and he shall bring it near of his own pleasure before the face of the LORD.Therefore I urge you, brothers, through the compassions of God, to set your bodies beside God as a living sacrifice, set apart, well-pleasing to him, which is your true service.Let us draw near with a true heart in the fullness of trust, our hearts sprinkled from a burdened shared sight, and our bodies bathed in clean waters.THE THREAD
If his drawing near from the herd is a rising offering, he shall bring near a whole male to the opening of the tent of appointed meeting, and he shall bring it near of his own pleasure before the face of the LORD.Ezra’s Aramaic verb for “offer” comes from q-r-b, the root also used in Hebrew for “offer” here. The shared root reveals the action beneath both verses: what is offered is brought near.
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