What Does Ezekiel 16:34 Mean in the King James?
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 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 verse names the inversion twice: you pursue and pay for what neither pursues nor pays you.
THE MEANING
You pursue what does not pursue you, giving the hire while none is given back. The verse calls this reversal something within you and names you by its opposite arrangement.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that pursuing desire or paying for access guarantees a reciprocal response.
THE ROOT
הֵפֶךְ
hēphekh
GROWS FROM
הפך
Turn, overturn; by extension, reversal or opposite.
English “contrary” can sound like a personality trait; הֵפֶךְ (hēphekh, reversal) names a turn. The same word frames the verse at its beginning and end, making the one-way exchange part of the reversal itself.
ALSO GROWS
hāphakh: To turn or overturn.
הָפַךְ
The root makes “contrary” an active turning of the expected arrangement.
mahpekhāh: Overthrow or destruction.
מַהְפֵּכָה
This branch shows how a reversal can overturn the structure it changes.
אֶתְנַן
’etnan
GROWS FROM
נתן
Give, set, place.
The word translated “reward” is linked to נָתַן (nātan, give), and the verse pairs it with forms of that same verb: you give, but none is given to you. The exchange is not just unpaid; the giving itself runs one way.
ALSO GROWS
nātan: Give, set, place.
נָתַן
The verse repeats this give-root in “givest” and “is given,” exposing the one-sided exchange.
mattānāh: Gift.
מַתָּנָה
This related word keeps the sense of giving visible inside the hire or reward.
THE PATTERN
An exchange is exposed by its direction: who pursues, who gives, and whether anything comes back.
They give gifts to all whores: but thou givest thy gifts to all thy lovers, and hirest them, that they may come unto thee on every side for thy whoredom.Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes.Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.THE THREAD
Thou shalt not bring the hire of a whore, or the price of a dog, into the house of the LORD thy God for any vow: for even both these are abomination unto the LORD thy God.The Hebrew word אֶתְנַן (’etnan, hire or payment) appears here for a prostitute’s hire and in Ezekiel’s repeated “reward.” That shared word sharpens the reversal: the payment ordinarily received is given by you, while no payment comes back.
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