What Does Ezekiel 20:20 Mean in the King James?
And hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the LORD your God.
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 Sabbath’s cessation becomes a set-apart sign through which relationship with God becomes knowable.
THE MEANING
Your time can carry a boundary that belongs to God: a recurring cessation set apart for him. That rhythm stands as a sign between you and God, making the relationship recognizable in lived experience. The verse joins ceasing, belonging, and knowing in one movement.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that knowing God is only inward conviction, detached from how time is lived.
THE ROOT
שַׁבְּתוֹתַי
shabbetotai
GROWS FROM
שבת
sh-b-t
Cease, stop, desist.
“Sabbaths” in this verse is shabbetotai. The sign is formed through cessation: the marked time itself carries the relationship. The root reveals stopping as the substance of the Sabbath, not merely a label for a day.
ALSO GROWS
shabbat: Sabbath; a day of cessation.
שַׁבָּת
The plural Sabbaths here carry this same cessation into a recurring rhythm.
shabbaton: Complete rest or solemn cessation.
שַׁבָּתוֹן
This related form makes the root’s sense of stopping especially clear.
קַדֵּשׁוּ
qaddeshu
GROWS FROM
קדש
q-d-sh
Set apart as sacred.
“hallow” in this verse is qaddeshu. The verb marks the Sabbath as belonging distinctly to God. This root also names set-apartness and the sanctuary, connecting sacred time with a place set apart for God.
ALSO GROWS
qadosh: Set apart, sacred.
קָדוֹשׁ
The same rooted quality describes the character of what belongs distinctly to God.
qodesh: Set-apartness, sacredness.
קֹדֶשׁ
This noun names the quality that the verb asks the Sabbaths to carry.
miqdash: Sanctuary, a set-apart place.
מִקְדָּשׁ
The shared root links the Sabbath’s set-apart time with a space set apart for God.
לָדַעַת
lada'at
GROWS FROM
ידע
y-d-ʿ
Know, recognize, perceive through encounter.
“know” in this verse is lada'at. The sign leads to recognition of who stands in relationship with you. This root’s language of knowing reaches beyond information into lived perception, so the verse connects sacred time with knowing the LORD as your God.
ALSO GROWS
yada: Know, recognize.
יָדַע
This verb is the root’s direct form and names the knowing the Sabbath sign points toward.
da'at: Knowledge, perception.
דַּעַת
The noun shows the same root’s movement from recognition into what is known.
yadua: Known, recognized.
יָדוּעַ
This form describes the recognition that the verse says the sign makes possible.
THE PATTERN
A set-apart sign makes relationship with God recognizable as lived knowledge.
Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you.And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.THE THREAD
Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you.Exodus gathers the same roots into one explicit chain: Sabbath, set-apartness, sign, and knowing. It makes clear that the set-apart Sabbath itself is the sign through which the relationship becomes recognizable.
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