What Does Ezekiel 22:6 Mean in the King James?
Behold, the princes of Israel, every one were in thee to their power to shed blood.
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
Those lifted into rank are exposed by the force of their arm: the Hebrew says they use their strength to pour blood out.
THE MEANING
This verse speaks wherever authority gathers now: those raised over others can turn their strength into the force that makes blood flow. It names the violence as an act of pouring blood out, so rank cannot conceal what power is doing.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that rank makes violence legitimate dissolves here: the verse names the elevated person’s own strength as an instrument of bloodshed.
THE ROOT
שְׁפֹךְ דָּם
shephokh dam
GROWS FROM
שׁפך
sh-p-kh
Pour out, spill; שְׁפֹךְ דָּם (shephokh dam) means “to pour out blood.”
“shed blood” in this verse is shephokh dam. The verb translated “shed” is concrete: blood is poured out. In Hebrew, the same verb can describe a heart poured out before God, so the root reveals two very different flows, one that destroys life, and one that opens the heart.
ALSO GROWS
shāphakh dām: Spill blood; kill.
שָׁפַךְ דָּם
This is the phrase in the verse: bloodshed is pictured as blood being poured out.
shifkhu lefanav levavkhem: Open your heart before God; Psalm 62:8.
שִׁפְכוּ לְפָנָיו לְבַבְכֶם
The same verb names a vulnerable opening of the heart. What is poured out, and how, changes the expression of the shared root.
נְשִׂיאֵי
nĕśîʾê
GROWS FROM
נשא
n-ś-ʾ
Lift, carry, bear.
“princes” in this verse is nĕśîʾê. “Prince” belongs to a root of lifting and carrying: the prince is one lifted up, while the same root also names a load that must be borne. Here the elevated ones wield their strength to pour out blood; their rank does not hide the effect of their power.
ALSO GROWS
nāśāʾ: Raise or carry something.
נָשָׂא
This verb gives the root its sense of lifting and bearing, which is carried into the title “prince.”
maśśāʾ: Something carried or borne.
מַשָּׂא
The same root that names the lifted ruler also names what must be carried, linking elevation with bearing.
THE PATTERN
When authority uses strength to dominate life, its elevated status offers no cover for the blood it spills.
Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity.But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them.THE THREAD
Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah.The Hebrew verb translated “shed” here is the same verb used in this psalm for pouring out the heart before God. The shared root makes the contrast concrete: blood poured out by force and a heart poured out in trust are both pictured as a flow, with opposite outcomes.
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