What Does Ezekiel 23:9 Mean in the King James?
Wherefore I have delivered her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the Assyrians, upon whom she doted.
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 force she desires becomes the hand that takes hold of her.
THE MEANING
The verse meets you with a stark portrait: she is placed in the grasp of the very lovers she desires. Longing and domination occupy one sentence; what she longs toward is also the power that takes hold of her.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that desire can stay safely separate from the power of the one desired.
THE ROOT
וָאֶתְּנָהּ
wāʾettenāh
GROWS FROM
נתן
give, set, place
Here, “delivered” is shaped by the Hebrew verb for giving or placing, and “into the hand” makes that act concrete. The verse presents a stark handover: she is placed in the grasp of the ones she desired.
ALSO GROWS
natan: to give, set, or place
נָתַן
This is the verb behind “I gave her,” naming the act that places her into another’s hand.
mattān: a gift or present, something given
מַתָּן
This noun carries the same root into what is given; here, the one given is placed in the lovers’ grasp.
עָגְבָה
ʿāḡəḇāh
GROWS FROM
עגב
to lust after, be infatuated with
The verb for “doted” names the force of lustful infatuation, while “lovers” names the people toward whom it moves. The wording holds the inner pull and its objects apart, then joins them in the handover.
ALSO GROWS
watteʿaggev: she doted or lusted
וַתְּעַגֵּב
This form appears in Ezekiel 23:5, naming the desire that precedes the handover in this verse.
ʿaggāvātāh: her lust or inordinate desire
עַגָּבָתָהּ
In Ezekiel 23:11, a noun from this root names the desire as a force in itself.
THE PATTERN
When desire binds itself to a power, that power can become the means by which one is handed over.
So I gave them up unto their own hearts’ lust: and they walked in their own counsels.Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:THE THREAD
And he gave them into the hand of the heathen; and they that hated them ruled over them.This verse uses the same root as “delivered”, נתן (natan, give or place), and the same image of being placed in another’s hand. It makes explicit what Ezekiel’s sentence leaves implicit: the hand that receives them comes to rule them.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us