What Does Ezekiel 23:38 Mean in the King James?
Moreover this they have done unto me: they have defiled my sanctuary in the same day, and have profaned my sabbaths.
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 joins the defilement of sacred space and the profaning of sacred time: both are made common in a single breach.
THE MEANING
The verse holds two violations together: the sanctuary is contaminated, and the Sabbaths are treated as common on the same day. It names both as acts done to God personally, showing that sacred place and sacred time are not empty forms.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Desecrating a sanctuary or profaning a Sabbath is only a ritual matter, separate from one’s relation to God.
THE ROOT
חִלְּלוּ
ḥilləlû
GROWS FROM
חלל
ḥ-l-l
To profane or treat as common.
“profaned” in this verse is ḥilləlû. The root shows that profaning is treating what is set apart as ordinary. Here it reaches sacred time, while the sanctuary is defiled on that same day.
ALSO GROWS
ḥol: Common, non-sacred.
חֹל
This is the opposite of what is set apart; the verb describes crossing that distinction.
ḥillul: Profanation, desecration.
חִלּוּל
This noun names the act of making common that the verse describes.
מִקְדָּשִׁי
miqdāshî
GROWS FROM
קדש
q-d-sh
To set apart as sacred.
The sanctuary is named through its set-apartness; its defilement violates the boundary that makes it a sanctuary. The verse pairs that breach of sacred place with the profaning of sacred time.
ALSO GROWS
qādôsh: Set apart.
קָדוֹשׁ
This adjective makes clear that sacredness is a distinction, not merely a location.
qōdesh: That which is set apart; sacredness.
קֹדֶשׁ
The sanctuary belongs to this set-apart realm, which the verse says has been violated.
שַׁבְּתוֹתַי
shabbĕtōtay
GROWS FROM
שבת
sh-b-t
To cease or stop.
“Sabbaths” in this verse is shabbĕtōtay. The root keeps the action inside “Sabbath”: cessation. The verse sets this sacred time beside the sanctuary, showing both the place and its rhythm violated together.
ALSO GROWS
shabbat: Sabbath; cessation.
שַׁבָּת
The name carries the stopping that marks this time apart.
shabbaton: A solemn rest.
שַׁבָּתוֹן
This related form likewise marks time through cessation, clarifying what is profaned in the verse.
THE PATTERN
What is set apart for God is not interchangeable with the common; the boundary applies to sacred place and sacred time.
Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am the LORD.Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you.If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.THE THREAD
Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they shewed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.Ezekiel 22:26 repeats the same חלל root in “profaned” and “I am profaned,” then names the collapse as making no distinction between the holy and the common. It also places Sabbath neglect beside that collapse, making explicit the paired breach in this verse.
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