What Does Ezekiel 10:18 Mean in the King James?

Then the glory of the LORD departed from off the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubims.

Ezekiel 10:18 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

THE KEY

The glory is weight in motion: it leaves the threshold, then takes its stand over the cherubim.

THE MEANING

The LORD’s weight leaves the house’s threshold and remains present over the cherubim. Departure from one place and presence in another exist together in this scene. The building is not the boundary of the LORD’s presence.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the belief that God’s presence is confined to a sacred place, so leaving that place means being gone.

THE ROOT

כְּבוֹד

kavod

GROWS FROM

כבד

k-b-d

To be heavy or weighty.

“glory” in this verse is kavod. Kavod carries the sense of weight: what is glorious is substantial and bears significance. Here, that weight does not vanish as it departs; it takes a new position over the cherubim.

ALSO GROWS

kaved: Heavy, weighty.

כָּבֵד

This branch makes the physical sense of kavod visible: glory carries weight.

kibbēd: To honor or treat as weighty.

כִּבֵּד

Honor is linked to recognizing the weight or significance of someone.

וַיֵּצֵא

vayyēṣēʾ

GROWS FROM

יצא

y-ts-ʾ

To go out or come forth.

“departed” in this verse is vayyēṣēʾ. The verb gives the glory a direction: it moves out from the threshold. The next clause shows that this going out leads to a new position over the cherubim.

ALSO GROWS

yetsi’ah: Going out, departure.

יְצִיאָה

This noun keeps the movement in view: departure is an act of leaving a place.

motsa: An exit or outlet.

מוֹצָא

The branch suggests an opening through which something comes forth, fitting the glory’s movement from the house’s threshold.

THE PATTERN

The LORD’s weight is portrayed as mobile: it can fill a dwelling, depart a city, and enter through a gate.

Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.

Exodus 40:34 · KJVThe same glory fills a dwelling, showing divine presence as weight that occupies a place.

And the glory of the LORD went up from the midst of the city, and stood upon the mountain which is on the east side of the city.

Ezekiel 11:23 · KJVThe glory goes up from the city and stands on the eastern mountain, extending its movement beyond the house.

Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.

Psalm 24:7 · KJVThe King of glory comes in through opened gates, pairing departure with an entrance.

THE THREAD

And the glory of the LORD came into the house by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east.

Ezekiel 43:4 · KJV

The same ⁨כָּבוֹד⁩ (kavod, weight or glory) that leaves the house here later comes back through the east-facing gate. Its departure and return show the weight moving between places rather than being bound to one threshold.

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