What Does Ezekiel 17:20 Mean in the King James?

And I will spread my net upon him, and he shall be taken in my snare, and I will bring him to Babylon, and will plead with him there for his trespass that he hath trespassed against me.

Ezekiel 17:20 · 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

Hebrew repeats the root ⁨מָעַל⁩ in both “his trespass” and “he trespassed,” making betrayal and its breach one act.

THE MEANING

When trust is betrayed, distance does not erase the breach: the net closes, and the betrayer is brought before God. Capture and judgment are one movement; the act is named where escape seemed to put it beyond reach.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

I can escape the breach by getting far enough away.

THE ROOT

מַעֲלוֹ

maʿalo

GROWS FROM

מעל

⁨מעל⁩ (maʿal): to act treacherously, deal faithlessly, violate trust.

“trespass / trespassed” in this verse is maʿalo. The verse uses the same root for the noun “his trespass” and the verb “he trespassed.” Hebrew holds the breach and the betrayal together as one act against God.

ALSO GROWS

maʿal: To act treacherously or deal faithlessly.

מָעַל

This verb appears in the verse and names the betrayal itself.

maʿal: Treachery; a breach of trust.

מַעַל

This noun shows the breach as the substance of the act, not merely a mistake.

meʿilah: Treachery, trespass, or misappropriation.

מְעִילָה

It carries the same root consonants into another form of violating what is entrusted.

וְנִתְפַּשׂ

wenitpas

GROWS FROM

תפש

⁨תפש⁩ (tāphaś): to seize, grasp, or take hold.

“Taken” can sound like a bare outcome, while the Hebrew verb comes from the root for seizing and grasping. Beside the net and snare, it makes the capture a forceful taking hold.

ALSO GROWS

tāphaś: To seize, grasp, or take hold.

תָּפַשׂ

This is the root action beneath the verse’s “shall be taken.”

tōphēs: One who seizes, handles, or holds.

תֹּפֵשׂ

This form keeps the sense of active grasping present in the capture.

titpos: You seize or take hold.

תִּתְפֹּשׂ

The same consonants show the root’s direct action of taking hold.

THE PATTERN

A breach of trust does not vanish; it returns as capture and reckoning.

His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.

Proverbs 5:22 · KJVAs in Ezekiel’s net and snare, the cords here turn the doer’s own crookedness into what holds him.

He made a pit, and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch which he made.

Psalm 7:15 · KJVThe trap closes around its maker, and what was set in motion returns as capture.

Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

Galatians 6:7 · KJVWhat seems to disappear returns as its harvest, carrying the movement from deed to reckoning.

THE THREAD

If a soul sin, and commit a trespass against the LORD, and lie unto his neighbour in that which was delivered him to keep, or in fellowship, or in a thing taken away by violence, or hath deceived his neighbour;

Leviticus 6:2 · KJV

Leviticus doubles the same root: ⁨מַעַל⁩ (maʿal, trespass or treachery) and ⁨תִּמְעֹל⁩ (timʿol, act treacherously). Ezekiel’s “his trespass that he hath trespassed” echoes that pairing, naming the breach as betrayal of trust before God.

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