What Does Ezekiel 2:7 Mean in the King James?
And thou shalt speak my words unto them, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear: for they are most rebellious.
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 word is still spoken when the hearer refuses it; its truth does not wait for consent.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks to you now: its words remain spoken whether they meet a response or a refusal. Here, to hear opens toward response, while to forbear is to hold back. The passage names that resistance plainly as rebellion.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that a word is valid only when people accept it dissolves here.
THE ROOT
יִשְׁמְעוּ
yishme'u
GROWS FROM
שמע
To hear, listen, or heed; in this vocabulary, hearing includes responding.
“hear” in this verse is yishme'u. English can make hearing sound like sound merely reaching the ear. The Hebrew word opens toward a response, so the verse sets responsive hearing beside holding back.
ALSO GROWS
shama: hear, listen, heed
שָׁמַע
This verb carries the sense of attending to what is heard, which gives the verse’s question more weight than whether the sound registers.
shemu'ah: report, news; something heard
שְׁמוּעָה
The branch makes the link between hearing and what is received as a report visible in the same root.
מְרִי
merî
GROWS FROM
מרה
To rebel or resist; מְרִי (merî) is rebellion or resistance.
“rebellious” in this verse is merî. The verse calls the resistance what it is: rebellion. The refusal is not presented as a neutral absence of response but as opposition to the words being spoken.
ALSO GROWS
marah: to rebel, disobey
מָרָה
The verb names the act behind the passage’s description of the hearers.
merî: rebellion, resistance
מְרִי
The noun names that resistance as a settled condition, sharpening the contrast with responsive hearing.
דְּבָרַי
devarai
GROWS FROM
דבר
To speak; דָּבָר (davar) also means a word, matter, or thing.
The words are not made substantial by their reception. The same root holds speech together with the matter being spoken, so refusal does not erase what has been said.
ALSO GROWS
davar: word, matter, thing
דָּבָר
The branch joins the spoken word to the matter it carries.
dibber: spoke, spoken
דִּבֵּר
This verb from the same root names the act the verse places at the center: speaking the words.
THE PATTERN
The word is spoken faithfully without making its truth depend on whether it is received.
So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.But the LORD said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak.And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet.THE THREAD
And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.The words rendered “obeying,” “obey,” and “hearken” come from שמע (shama), the root behind “hear” in Ezekiel 2:7. This connection reveals that the verse asks whether the words meet a response, not merely whether they are heard.
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