What Does Ezekiel 13:5 Mean in the King James?

Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the LORD.

Ezekiel 13:5 · 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

Protection depends on someone entering the breach and restoring the boundary before the day of conflict arrives.

THE MEANING

Where safety is promised while the exposed places remain unrepaired, the house is left vulnerable when conflict comes. The verse names the failure plainly: no one enters the opening to restore the boundary, so the house cannot stand secure in the day of battle. Its words speak wherever reassurance takes the place of repair.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the belief that a house is protected simply because someone says it is; the open breach reveals its actual condition.

THE ROOT

הַפְּרָצוֹת

ha-peratsot

GROWS FROM

פרץ

p-r-ts

Break through, burst out; a breach made by breaking through.

“gaps” in this verse is ha-peratsot. The same root can name both a breach and the force of breaking outward. A gap is not merely empty space: it is an opening through which something can pass, leaving the house exposed.

ALSO GROWS

pāraṣ: To break through, burst out.

פָּרַץ

This verb names the force that turns a boundary into a breach.

ūpāraṣtā: You will spread abroad, break out (Genesis 28:14).

וּפָרַצְתָּ

The same root can describe outward expansion; an opening can lead to growth or exposure, depending on what it meets.

גָּדֵר

gāder

GROWS FROM

גדר

g-d-r

Enclose, fence in, wall around.

English separates “made up” from “hedge,” but Hebrew repeats one root in the verb and the object: they did not fence the fence. The phrase makes the missing protection tangible: no one performs the enclosing act that would close the exposed edge.

ALSO GROWS

gādar: To fence in, enclose.

גָּדַר

This is the verb behind “made up”; the action and the hedge share a root, so making the hedge means enclosing the opening.

gidrot tson: Sheepfolds, fenced pens (Numbers 32:16).

גִּדְרֹת צֹאן

The same word family describes an enclosure that protects vulnerable life, making the hedge a sheltering boundary.

THE PATTERN

A community can stand through conflict when its breaches are faced and its boundary restored.

And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.

Ezekiel 22:30 · KJVIt names the same missing work: someone must close the hedge and occupy the gap for the land.

So built we the wall; and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof: for the people had a mind to work.

Nehemiah 4:6 · KJVThe wall is restored through shared work, making the boundary itself part of the community’s defense.

Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

Ephesians 6:13 · KJVIt names the capacity to stand in the evil day, echoing this verse’s concern for a house able to hold its place in battle.

THE THREAD

Why hast thou then broken down her hedges, so that all they which pass by the way do pluck her?

Psalm 80:12 · KJV

Psalm 80:12 uses the same Hebrew root, ⁨גדר⁩ (g-d-r), meaning to fence or enclose, for “hedges.” It shows what follows when that boundary is broken: those passing by can reach what lies inside.

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