What Does Ezekiel 20:47 Mean in the King James?
And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.
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 flame is pictured as a mouth: it eats both the green and the dry, leaving nothing protected by its condition.
THE MEANING
The LORD’s word addresses the forest itself: fire is kindled within it and devours both green and dry trees. The flame is not quenched, and its sweep reaches from south to north, burning every face.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that only what is already dry is vulnerable falls here: the fire consumes green and dry alike. Nothing in the passage stands outside its reach.
THE ROOT
וְאָכְלָה
ve’akhəlâ
GROWS FROM
אכל
Eat; consume.
“devour” in this verse is ve’akhəlâ. The verse gives the fire the verb for eating: it takes the forest into itself. The same root names food and the act of eating, so both green life and dry remains become what the flame consumes.
ALSO GROWS
ʾākal: To eat; consume.
אָכַל
This is the root verb behind the fire’s devouring, making its action as direct as eating.
maʾăḵāl: Food; something eaten.
מַאֲכָל
This branch shows what the root’s action takes in: the forest becomes the fire’s food.
שְׁמַע
shemaʿ
GROWS FROM
שמע
Hear; listen, with the sense of heeding or responding.
The forest is commanded to hear the LORD’s word before the fire is announced. The Hebrew can hold hearing and heeding together, so the command reaches even the forest as a summons to respond.
ALSO GROWS
shamaʿ: Hear; listen; heed.
שָׁמַע
This is the verb of the command addressed to the forest.
shemuʿah: A report; something heard.
שְׁמוּעָה
The shared root connects hearing with the message that reaches its listener.
THE PATTERN
Scripture pictures fire as a consuming force that takes what lies before it and can exceed human power to stop.
For wickedness burneth as the fire: it shall devour the briers and thorns, and shall kindle in the thickets of the forest, and they shall mount up like the lifting up of smoke.But I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings, saith the LORD: and I will kindle a fire in the forest thereof, and it shall devour all things round about it.For our God is a consuming fire.THE THREAD
But I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings, saith the LORD: and I will kindle a fire in the forest thereof, and it shall devour all things round about it.Ezekiel and Jeremiah use the same Hebrew root, אכל, for the fire’s devouring: the fire takes the forest into itself. Jeremiah’s “all things round about it” echoes Ezekiel’s sweep from south to north, leaving no sheltered edge.
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