What Does Ezekiel 14:16 Mean in the King James?
Though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters; they only shall be delivered, but the land shall be desolate.
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 Hebrew repeats one rescue-root in opposite voices: the men cannot rescue their children, but they themselves are rescued.
THE MEANING
This verse puts a hard boundary around family bonds: one person’s deliverance does not secure another’s escape when the land is judged. The three men are rescued; their sons and daughters are not, and the land remains desolate.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that another person’s righteousness or closeness can guarantee your deliverance. Their rescue does not extend to their children.
THE ROOT
יַצִּילוּ
yatsilu
GROWS FROM
נצל
To snatch away, rescue, or escape.
“deliver / be delivered” in this verse is yatsilu. Hebrew repeats נצל (n-ṣ-l, natsal; rescue) in two different voices. One form names the rescue the men cannot bring to their children; the other names the rescue they receive themselves, making the boundary part of the grammar.
ALSO GROWS
yatsilu: They will rescue or deliver.
יַצִּילוּ
This form makes the men agents of rescue, but the verse says they cannot deliver their sons or daughters.
yinnatselu: They will be rescued.
יִנָּצֵלוּ
The voice shifts from rescuing another to being rescued themselves; the shared root marks how far their deliverance reaches.
THE PATTERN
When judgment names an individual, another person’s standing cannot be counted as that person’s own.
The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put to death for his own sin.The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.For every man shall bear his own burden.THE THREAD
Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord GOD.This verse names Noah, Daniel, and Job, then uses the same root נצל (n-ṣ-l, natsal; rescue) to say their righteousness reaches only their own lives. Verse 16 repeats the root in opposite voices: they cannot rescue their children, while they themselves are rescued.
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