What Does Ezekiel 21:18 Mean in the King James?
The word of the LORD came unto me again, saying,
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 arriving “word” is not only language: Hebrew lets it name the matter itself.
THE MEANING
As you read, the LORD’s word arrives to you before it takes voice as a saying. The message is already present before it is spoken, more than information on a page.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that scripture is only inert text sealed in the past: here the word arrives and speaks in the present.
THE ROOT
דְבַר
devar
GROWS FROM
ד־ב־ר
D-B-R
To speak or utter; the word, matter, or thing spoken.
The root ties speech to the matter at issue, so “the word” is more than verbal packaging. The verse places that word before its saying: what reaches Ezekiel already carries substance before it is voiced.
ALSO GROWS
davar: Word; matter, thing, or affair.
דָּבָר
This noun keeps utterance and the matter it carries together, so what arrives is something placed before Ezekiel, not just sound or text.
dibber: To speak or declare.
דִּבֵּר
This verb shows the root in action; alongside the verse’s separate word for “saying,” it makes reception and voicing distinct.
THE PATTERN
A word received moves through a person into speech; the speaker voices what first reaches them.
Then the LORD put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth.The lion hath roared, who will not fear? the Lord GOD hath spoken, who can but prophesy?For we can not but speak the things which we have seen and heard.THE THREAD
And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.The Hebrew דָּבָר (davar, “word” or “matter”) in Deuteronomy shares the root of Ezekiel’s דְבַר (devar, “word”). Deuteronomy shows this word proceeding from the LORD’s mouth as life-giving speech; Ezekiel shows it arriving to a hearer before it is voiced.
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