What Does Ezekiel 17:9 Mean in the King James?
Say thou, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Shall it prosper? shall he not pull up the roots thereof, and cut off the fruit thereof, that it wither? it shall wither in all the leaves of her spring, even without great power or many people to pluck it up by the roots thereof.
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 vine’s fruit and leaves cannot protect it once its roots are severed; the collapse needs no great force after the source is cut.
THE MEANING
Something can still look alive while its connection to what sustains it has already been cut. Once the source is severed, the visible growth dries out, and its undoing does not require an equal force. Its flourishing depends on what remains joined beneath the surface.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that visible fruit proves a thing is thriving, and that great force is required to bring down something that looks strong.
THE ROOT
יְנַתֵּק
yenatteq
GROWS FROM
נתק
n-t-q
to tear away, sever, or detach
The action translated “pull up” carries the sense of tearing something loose from its connection. The vine’s collapse begins with severance at the source, so its visible fruit cannot keep it alive.
ALSO GROWS
nataq: to tear away, sever, or detach
נָתַק
This base form names the disconnection at the heart of the vine’s uprooting.
hitnatteq: to detach oneself or break away
הִתְנַתֵּק
The same root can describe becoming disconnected, showing that the vine’s crisis is its broken bond to the source.
שָׁרָשֶׁיהָ
shorāšeha
GROWS FROM
שרש
sh-r-sh
root; the source from which growth is grounded
The roots are more than one part of the plant: they are its anchoring source. The verse makes the condition beneath the surface decisive for whether fruit and leaves can endure.
ALSO GROWS
shoresh: a root or source
שֹׁרֶשׁ
This noun makes plain that what is severed is the vine’s point of origin and support.
sharash: to take root or become rooted
שָׁרַשׁ
The verb shows rootedness as an ongoing relation to a source, the relation this vine loses.
תִּיבָשׁ
tivash
GROWS FROM
יבש
y-b-sh
to dry up or become withered
“wither” in this verse is tivash. The verse repeats the word for withering, extending the loss beyond a single piece of fruit. The same root names dry land, giving the image a sense of growth emptied of moisture throughout.
ALSO GROWS
yavesh: dry or withered
יָבֵשׁ
This form names the condition the vine enters when its sustaining connection is gone.
yabbashah: dry land
יַבָּשָׁה
This related word extends the image from a withered plant to a landscape marked by dryness.
THE PATTERN
Visible growth depends on connection to a sustaining source, and severance at that source makes it wither.
For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.THE THREAD
For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.Ezekiel’s vine loses its roots; here, the tree spreads its roots toward the river. The shared root שרש (sh-r-sh), meaning “root” and “take root,” makes the contrast visible: growth withers when severed from its source and endures when rooted beside water.
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