What Does Ezekiel 23:1 Mean in the King James?

The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,

Ezekiel 23:1 · KJV

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’s arrival is phrased as a becoming: what is spoken takes place as an encounter with a hearer.

THE MEANING

You stand at the threshold of a word becoming present to a hearer, again. The verse leaves its content open until the words that follow, holding the arrival and the speaking together.

THE ROOT

וַיְהִי

wayehi

GROWS FROM

היה

hayah

To be, become, happen.

“came” in this verse is wayehi. The form wayehi (⁨וַיְהִי⁩, “and it was” or “happened”) comes from hayah (⁨היה⁩), “to be, become, happen.” The sentence lets the word’s arrival carry the sense of an event becoming present, and “again” marks that encounter as recurring.

ALSO GROWS

yehi: Let it be; let there be.

יְהִי

The same root appears in the creation phrase “Let there be light,” linking this arrival with language of becoming.

ehyeh: I am; I will be.

אֶהְיֶה

Exodus 3:14 uses the same root in God’s self-naming, giving the verse’s “came” a resonance with being and presence.

דְּבַר

devar

GROWS FROM

דבר

davar

To speak; the noun also means word, matter, or affair.

Within this Hebrew word family, “word” and “matter” remain close: the message carries both utterance and substance. Paired with wayehi (⁨וַיְהִי⁩, “and it was” or “happened”), the phrase presents the message as an event becoming present to its hearer.

ALSO GROWS

dibber: He spoke; to speak.

דִּבֵּר

The verb keeps the word tied to speech addressed to someone.

davar: Word, matter, or affair.

דָּבָר

This branch holds spoken language and the matter it carries within one word family.

THE PATTERN

A divine word becomes an encounter through arrival, speech, or reception.

After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.

Genesis 15:1 · KJVThe word arrives in a vision and becomes direct speech to its hearer.

Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

Jeremiah 1:4 · KJVThe same arrival-and-speech pattern places a word before a hearer.

For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.

1 Thessalonians 2:13 · KJVReception becomes an ongoing encounter as the word works in those who receive it.

THE THREAD

And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.

Exodus 3:14 · KJV

The Hebrew form wayehi (⁨וַיְהִי⁩, “and it was” or “happened”) comes from ⁨היה⁩ (hayah, “to be, become, happen”). Exodus uses ⁨אֶהְיֶה⁩ (ehyeh, “I am” or “I will be”) from that same root, letting this opening’s “came” resonate with a word becoming present to its hearer.

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