What Does Ezekiel 23:31 Mean in the King James?
Thou hast walked in the way of thy sister; therefore will I give her cup into thine hand.
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 path you walk becomes the cup placed in your hand.
THE MEANING
You stand before the consequence of a path already walked: your sister’s cup is placed into your hand. The verse turns resemblance into something received and carried, leaving the severity of that transfer exposed.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse dissolves the idea that a path can be copied without also receiving its consequence.
THE ROOT
וְנָתַתִּי
venatatti
GROWS FROM
נתן
to give, set, or place
“give” in this verse is venatatti. The verb carries the sense of placing something into someone’s hands. The cup is not an abstract sentence: it is a portion set directly before the one who must receive it.
ALSO GROWS
mattanah: gift
מַתָּנָה
This noun from the same root shows giving as something transferred into someone’s possession; here, what is given is a cup of judgment.
netinah: giving, the act of giving
נְתִינָה
The shared root makes the transfer itself part of the verse’s emphasis: the cup is deliberately placed in the hand.
דֶּרֶךְ
derekh
GROWS FROM
דרך
to tread, step, or travel
The word for “way” grows from the idea of a track made by treading. Paired with “walked,” it makes the sister’s way a course actively followed, not just a resemblance in name.
ALSO GROWS
darak: to tread, march, or step along
דָּרַךְ
The verb shows the action inside the noun “way”: a path is made and followed through repeated steps.
midrakh: footing, a place to tread
מִדְרָךְ
This branch keeps the image grounded in contact with the path; the verse links the walked track to what is later placed in the hand.
THE PATTERN
The cup makes judgment or suffering a portion personally received, rather than an abstraction.
For in the hand of the LORD there is a cup, and the wine is red; it is full of mixture; and he poureth out of the same: but the dregs thereof, all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out, and drink them.Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the LORD the cup of his fury; thou hast drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling, and wrung them out.And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.THE THREAD
Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the LORD the cup of his fury; thou hast drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling, and wrung them out.Isaiah uses the same Hebrew word כוֹס (kôs, “cup”) and places it in Jerusalem’s hand from the LORD’s hand. The shared image opens this verse further: the cup is a received portion of judgment, something that enters the hand and must be drunk.
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