What Does Ezekiel 23:29 Mean in the King James?

And they shall deal with thee hatefully, and shall take away all thy labour, and shall leave thee naked and bare: and the nakedness of thy whoredoms shall be discovered, both thy lewdness and thy whoredoms.

Ezekiel 23:29 · 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.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

The verb translated “discovered” shares a root that can also mean deporting someone, binding exposure to the passage’s stripping and removal.

THE MEANING

This verse names betrayal in its most exposing form: others take what you have labored for, abandon you naked, and bring your sexual shame into view. It holds dispossession and bodily exposure together without softening either.

THE ROOT

וְנִגְלָה

weniglāh

GROWS FROM

ג־ל־ה

g-l-h

Uncover or reveal; in another verb form, carry away captive or deport.

“discovered” in this verse is weniglāh. The Hebrew ⁨נִגְלָה⁩ (niglâ, “is uncovered”) comes from a root that also forms a verb for deporting or carrying away captive. English separates these ideas, while the verse’s scene holds exposure beside plunder and abandonment.

ALSO GROWS

gālāh: Uncover, reveal.

גָּלָה

This is the root’s sense in “shall be discovered”: what was covered is laid bare.

higlâ: Deport, carry away captive.

הִגְלָה

This branch joins the language of uncovering to forced removal, echoing the verse’s stripping and loss.

THE PATTERN

The language of uncovering can name hidden things brought to light or a body exposed in violation.

He discovereth deep things out of darkness, and bringeth out to light the shadow of death.

Job 12:22 · KJVThe Hebrew verb translated “discovereth” comes from the same root ⁨גלה⁩, naming hidden depths brought out of darkness.

Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and I will not meet thee as a man.

Isaiah 47:3 · KJVLike Ezekiel, this verse names bodily exposure and shame without disguising the violence of the scene.

For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known.

Luke 12:2 · KJVThe saying extends the covered-and-revealed pattern to everything hidden, though it does not describe the violation Ezekiel does.

THE THREAD

He discovereth deep things out of darkness, and bringeth out to light the shadow of death.

Job 12:22 · KJV

Job uses the same ⁨גלה⁩ root, rendered “discovereth,” for bringing hidden depths out of darkness. In Ezekiel the root names brutal exposure; the surrounding words show how uncovering can appear as violation rather than revelation.

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