What Does Ezekiel 23:15 Mean in the King James?
Girded with girdles upon their loins, exceeding in dyed attire upon their heads, all of them princes to look to, after the manner of the Babylonians of Chaldea, the land of their nativity:
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 verse calls them the appearance of princes, then names the land that birthed them: the eye sees a regal image while their origin stays in view.
THE MEANING
You see bodies girded at the loins, dyed clothing, and decorated heads; together they present the appearance of princes. The verse holds that image beside a birthplace: they are Babylonians of Chaldea, the land of their nativity. What reaches the eye is joined to a people and their origin.
THE ROOT
מַרְאֵה
mar’eh
GROWS FROM
ראה
r-ʾ-h
To see or perceive.
“to look to” in this verse is mar’eh. The Hebrew calls them the appearance of princes: their princeliness is what meets the eye. The word belongs to the same root as seeing, keeping the gaze and the image in one frame.
ALSO GROWS
ra’ah: To see or perceive.
רָאָה
The verse centers what the eye sees in their dress and bearing.
mar’eh: Appearance or vision.
מַרְאֶה
This is the word describing their princely look.
ro’eh: One who sees; a seer.
רֹאֶה
This branch keeps the act of looking connected to the appearance being seen.
מוֹלַדְתָּם
moladetam
GROWS FROM
ילד
y-l-d
To beget, bear, or bring forth.
The verse moves from how these men look to where they were brought forth: their nativity is part of the description, not an aside. The same root links birth, child, and birthplace, holding a people’s origin within the word-family.
ALSO GROWS
yalad: To bear or beget.
יָלַד
This is the root action beneath their nativity.
yeled: Child.
יֶלֶד
The root also names one brought forth, linking origin to the people who come from it.
moledet: Birth, kindred, or native land.
מוֹלֶדֶת
This branch names the birth-place that the verse puts beside their princely appearance.
THE PATTERN
Visible rank can command the eye before the person behind the image is known.
But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.THE THREAD
And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto Jerusalem; Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan; thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother an Hittite.Ezekiel 16:3 uses the same birth-root in the word translated “nativity” while naming Jerusalem’s origin. The echo holds birthplace alongside the image that attracts the eye in Ezekiel 23:15.
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