What Does Ezekiel 16:31 Mean in the King James?
In that thou buildest thine eminent place in the head of every way, and makest thine high place in every street; and hast not been as an harlot, in that thou scornest hire;
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 startling turn is that she is not paid for desire; she pays to keep it alive.
THE MEANING
You can reach a point where pursuit has become an expense rather than an exchange: you lay the invitation everywhere and pay out what you once expected to receive. The verse names desire widening its reach while consuming what it has, with no return coming back.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that pouring more into a desire will eventually make it give something back.
THE ROOT
אֶתְנַן
etnan
GROWS FROM
נתן
n-t-n
To give, set, or place.
The word for prostitution’s payment, etnan (אֶתְנַן, “hire”), grows from natan (נָתַן, “give”). The verse’s next line makes that giving-shape plain: she gives the payment, and none is given to her.
ALSO GROWS
natan: To give, set, or place.
נָתַן
This verb carries the same giving-root that underlies “hire,” revealing the payment as an outflow from the pursuer.
mattanah: Gift or present.
מַתָּנָה
This related noun shows the root’s ordinary sense of something given, sharpening the verse’s reversal: the pursuer is the one paying out.
THE PATTERN
When desire becomes its own aim, pursuit turns from receiving into spending what cannot satisfy.
And the contrary is in thee from other women in thy whoredoms, whereas none followeth thee to commit whoredoms: and in that thou givest a reward, and no reward is given unto thee, therefore thou art contrary.Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.THE THREAD
And the contrary is in thee from other women in thy whoredoms, whereas none followeth thee to commit whoredoms: and in that thou givest a reward, and no reward is given unto thee, therefore thou art contrary.The same giving-root underlies “hire” here and “givest” and “given” in the next verse. That line makes the hidden inversion explicit: you pay, and no payment comes back.
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