What Does Ezekiel 18:15 Mean in the King James?
That hath not eaten upon the mountains, neither hath lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, hath not defiled his neighbour’s wife,
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 treats appetite, gaze, and intimacy as one field: what you consume, what you revere, and how you regard another person disclose the same allegiance.
THE MEANING
In you, integrity spans appetite, attention, and intimacy: what you consume, what you turn toward, and how you honor another person’s marriage belong to one life. The verse describes someone who does not join mountain worship, direct his gaze toward Israel’s idols, or violate a neighbor’s marriage.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that worship can remain sincere while a neighbor’s marriage is treated as disposable is undone here: devotion and sexual integrity belong to the same life.
THE ROOT
נָשָׂא
nasa
GROWS FROM
נשא
to lift, carry, or bear
“lifted up” in this verse is nasa. English can make this sound like a merely visual gesture, but the Hebrew verb also means to carry or bear. In this phrase the eyes are actively directed toward the idols; the same root can describe bearing a burden, so the gaze is more than passive looking.
ALSO GROWS
massaʾ: a burden or load
מַשָּׂא
A burden is something carried; this branch makes the carrying sense of “lifted up” audible.
nasa ʿavon: to bear wrongdoing; in some contexts, to forgive it
נָשָׂא עָוֹן
The same verb used for lifting the eyes can also describe bearing guilt, showing how much meaning the English gesture leaves inside the Hebrew verb.
nasiʾ: a leader or prince
נָשִׂיא
This related form carries the sense of one raised up, extending the root’s movement from lifting to elevation.
אָכַל
ʾakal
GROWS FROM
אכל
to eat or consume
“eaten” in this verse is ʾakal. The verb and the Hebrew words for food grow from the same root, linking the act of eating with what is consumed. Here “upon the mountains” places that eating in a worship setting, so the meal also marks participation.
ALSO GROWS
ʾokhel: food
אֹכֶל
The noun for food shares the root of the act of eating, connecting appetite with what enters the body.
maʾakhal: food or something eaten
מַאֲכָל
This branch again keeps the meal and the act of consuming in one word-family, fitting the verse’s attention to appetite.
טִמֵּא
timmeʾ
GROWS FROM
טמא
to be unclean or to make unclean
“defiled” in this verse is timmeʾ. The root holds together the act of making unclean and the state of uncleanness. The verse names sexual violation as contamination, not merely as a broken rule.
ALSO GROWS
ṭamēʾ: unclean
טָמֵא
This adjective describes the state named by the root behind “defiled.”
ṭumʾāh: uncleanness or impurity
טֻמְאָה
This noun names the condition linked to the act of defiling in the verse.
THE PATTERN
Faithfulness is one whole life, visible both in the direction of worship and in how a person treats a neighbor.
A Psalm of David. LORD, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill? He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart.He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.THE THREAD
A Psalm of David. Unto thee, O LORD, do I lift up my soul.“Lift up” translates the same Hebrew verb, nasa (נָשָׂא, lift, carry, or bear), as Ezekiel’s phrase about lifting the eyes. The psalm directs that lifting toward the LORD, making the direction of the gaze the hinge between the verses.
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