What Does Ezekiel 14:9 Mean in the King James?

And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the LORD have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.

Ezekiel 14:9 · 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 repeated Hebrew root names the prophet as enticed, then the LORD as the one who enticed him.

THE MEANING

This verse confronts you with a disturbing claim in God’s own voice: the prophet is deceived, and the LORD says that he has deceived him. The same speaker then stretches out his hand against the prophet and destroys him from among Israel. The verse holds divine agency in deception and destructive judgment together without explaining away the tension.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the belief that God only stands outside deception as its observer: here the LORD directly claims the deception and the ensuing destruction.

THE ROOT

יְפֻתֶּה

yefutteh

GROWS FROM

פתה

To entice, persuade, or allure; in a negative setting, to deceive.

“deceived” in this verse is yefutteh. The prophet’s passive form and the LORD’s first-person active form come from the same ⁨פתה⁩ (pathah) root. Its related word for an unwary person links susceptibility with enticement, while the verse leaves the LORD’s claimed role and the prophet’s destruction starkly joined.

ALSO GROWS

yefutteh: Be enticed or deceived.

יְפֻתֶּה

This is the form used for the prophet: he is the one acted upon.

pititi: I enticed or deceived.

פִּתֵּיתִי

This is the LORD’s first-person form from the same root, placing the claimed agency in the open.

pethi: A simple, inexperienced, or unwary person.

פֶּתִי

This related word names susceptibility to persuasion, joining the one who is enticed to the act of enticing.

THE PATTERN

These verses name divine judgment as operating through deception itself, with God explicitly identified as its sender or source.

Now therefore, behold, the LORD hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and the LORD hath spoken evil concerning thee.

1 Kings 22:23 · KJVThe verse names the LORD as placing the lying spirit in the prophets’ mouths.

Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! surely thou hast greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall have peace; whereas the sword reacheth unto the soul.

Jeremiah 4:10 · KJVThe speaker directly accuses the LORD of deceiving the people with a promise of peace while violence approaches.

And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:

2 Thessalonians 2:11 · KJVGod is named as sending the delusion through which people believe a lie.

THE THREAD

Now therefore, behold, the LORD hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and the LORD hath spoken evil concerning thee.

1 Kings 22:23 · KJV

This gives a close parallel: the LORD is named as putting a lying spirit in the prophets’ mouths. Beside Ezekiel, it holds prophetic deception and divine agency together, without explaining away the discomfort.

Read the SDV Bible.

Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.

Get Selah Verse

The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.

Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us