What Does Ezekiel 23:6 Mean in the King James?
Which were clothed with blue, captains and rulers, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding upon horses.
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 translated “desirable” shares its root with coveting, so attraction here already carries the pull of wanting.
THE MEANING
Desire fastens onto visible signs of distinction: blue clothing, rank, youth, and mounted power. Attraction takes shape through the whole image of authority, not just through the person being seen.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that desire arises apart from display: clothing, rank, youth, and force all help shape what looks desirable.
THE ROOT
חֶמֶד
chemed
GROWS FROM
חמד
To desire, take pleasure in, or regard as precious and desirable; in some contexts, to covet.
“desirable” in this verse is chemed. The same root names desirability, the act of wanting, and what appears pleasing to the eye. Desire and its object share one seed, showing attraction as a pull toward what is seen.
ALSO GROWS
chamad: To desire or covet.
חָמַד
This branch names the wanting itself; it reveals that desirable carries the force of appetite, not only an assessment of appearance.
neḥmād: Pleasant or desirable.
נֶחְמָד
Genesis 3:6 uses this related form for what looks desirable to the eye, linking visible appeal with the desire that follows.
THE PATTERN
Visible attractiveness and prestige can turn attention into appetite.
And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them; and, behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it.For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.THE THREAD
And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.The word for desirable in Ezekiel and the word for desired in Genesis share the root חמד, meaning to desire or regard as desirable. Genesis makes the movement visible: what attracts the eye becomes something to take.
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