What Does Ezekiel 16:61 Mean in the King James?
Then thou shalt remember thy ways, and be ashamed, when thou shalt receive thy sisters, thine elder and thy younger: and I will give them unto thee for daughters, but not by thy covenant.
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
God gives you a family beyond your covenant, and receiving that gift brings your own ways into view.
THE MEANING
Your own ways return to your awareness, and shame is present as you receive your older and younger sisters as daughters. Their place in your family comes from God’s giving, not from a covenant you made. Exposure and welcome meet in the same moment.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that your own covenant is the source of every bond is undone here: this family is given to you beyond it.
THE ROOT
וְנָתַתִּי
ve-natatti
GROWS FROM
נתן
natan
To give, set, or place.
“give” in this verse is ve-natatti. This root can describe giving as placing someone into a relationship or position. The daughters are not secured by the recipient’s covenant; they are given into her family.
ALSO GROWS
mattanah: Gift
מַתָּנָה
The sisters’ place as daughters arrives as something given.
netinim: Given or assigned ones; a group of temple servants
נְתִינִים
This branch shows the root can describe people through being given or placed in a role.
דְּרָכַיִךְ
derakhayikh
GROWS FROM
דרך
darak
To tread, step, or travel.
“ways” in this verse is derakhayikh. A way is not only an idea; it is a path made by steps. The verse brings the reader’s own walked path back into view as new kinship is received.
ALSO GROWS
derek: Way, road, or path
דֶּרֶךְ
The verse’s “ways” are paths a person has traveled.
darakh: To tread or step
דָּרַךְ
The related verb makes the path concrete: ways are formed by steps.
וְזָכַרְתְּ
ve-zakhart
GROWS FROM
זכר
zakar
To remember or recall.
“remember” in this verse is ve-zakhart. This root describes what returns to awareness, not merely information stored away. Here, the reader’s own path comes into view at the moment a new family is received.
ALSO GROWS
zikkaron: Remembrance or memorial
זִכָּרוֹן
A memorial keeps something present in awareness; the remembered ways are present to the reader now.
hizkir: To mention or cause to remember
הִזְכִּיר
This form shows remembrance as an active bringing-to-mind, as the verse’s “then thou shalt remember” does.
THE PATTERN
God gives people a place in a family beyond the boundaries that once defined belonging.
God setteth the solitary in families: he bringeth out those which are bound with chains: but the rebellious dwell in a dry land.Even unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off.Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;THE THREAD
Then shall ye remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall lothe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations.Both verses use זכר (zakar, remember) and bring your own ways back into view, making remembrance an active exposure rather than a sealed past. Ezekiel 16:61 joins that exposure to receiving the sisters as daughters, explicitly beyond your covenant.
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