What Does Ezekiel 10:22 Mean in the King James?

And the likeness of their faces was the same faces which I saw by the river of Chebar, their appearances and themselves: they went every one straight forward.

Ezekiel 10:22 · 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.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

The face is the direction: each being goes toward the orientation it already bears.

THE MEANING

The faces are the same as those seen by the river Chebar, and each being moves toward the direction of its own face. What appears and where it goes belong together; the vision’s identity is visible in its movement.

THE ROOT

פָּנִים

pānîm

GROWS FROM

פנה

Turn toward; face.

“faces / forward” in this verse is pānîm. The Hebrew says each one goes toward the direction of its face. The word for face carries orientation too, so the beings’ movement follows what their faces already turn toward.

ALSO GROWS

panah: Turn; face toward.

פָּנָה

This root meaning makes the face an orientation, not only a visible feature.

lifnei: Before; in front of.

לִפְנֵי

This related form places something in the direction of a face, echoing how each being moves toward the direction it faces.

THE PATTERN

A face is not only what is seen; it marks the direction a being takes.

And they went every one straight forward: whither the spirit was to go, they went; and they turned not when they went.

Ezekiel 1:12 · KJVThe same beings move in the direction they are given without turning aside.

And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.

Exodus 33:14 · KJVThe Hebrew word rendered “presence” is panim, “face,” and that face goes with the one addressed.

And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem,

Luke 9:51 · KJVThe face is set toward a destination, making the direction of movement visible.

THE THREAD

And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.

Exodus 33:14 · KJV

The Hebrew word rendered “presence” is panim, the same word for “faces” in Ezekiel 10:22. Here, the face goes with you; in Ezekiel, each being goes toward the direction its face bears.

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