What Does Ezekiel 24:6 Mean in the King James?

Wherefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe to the bloody city, to the pot whose scum is therein, and whose scum is not gone out of it! bring it out piece by piece; let no lot fall upon it.

Ezekiel 24:6 · 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

What remains hidden inside the vessel is brought into judgment piece by piece, and chance grants no exemption.

THE MEANING

The city stands before the reader as a pot holding bloodshed and scum that has not left it. What is within comes out piece by piece, and no lot determines which portion is spared. The judgment reaches every piece.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the belief that an inward stain stops mattering when it stays out of sight.

THE ROOT

לִנְתָחֶיהָ

linteḥeha

GROWS FROM

נתח

To cut up or divide into pieces; the related noun means a piece or portion.

“piece by piece” in this verse is linteḥeha. The Hebrew repeats ⁨לִנְתָחֶיהָ⁩, “into its pieces,” from ⁨נתח⁩, a root that names both a piece and the act of cutting into pieces. The removal is distributive: each portion is brought out, with no lot selecting a piece to spare.

ALSO GROWS

nātach: To cut up or divide into pieces

נָתַח

This verb also appears in Leviticus’s instructions for cutting an offering, giving Ezekiel’s command a concrete, bodily force.

nətāḥîm: Pieces, portions

נְתָחִים

The plural names distinct parts; the repeated phrase gives the removal its piece-by-piece scope.

THE PATTERN

What remains concealed within is brought into sight and dealt with until no piece is exempt.

And I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tin:

Isaiah 1:25 · KJVThe residue is purged by removal, echoing Ezekiel’s image of what remains inside being taken away.

And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness.

Malachi 3:3 · KJVRefining exposes and removes what cannot remain in the silver, echoing the verse’s thorough dealing with the pot’s residue.

Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.

Hebrews 4:13 · KJVNothing remains hidden from God’s sight, so the scum within the pot has no cover from exposure.

THE THREAD

And he shall cut it into his pieces, with his head and his fat: and the priest shall lay them in order on the wood that is on the fire which is upon the altar:

Leviticus 1:12 · KJV

Leviticus uses the same root, ⁨נתח⁩ (nathach, “cut into pieces”), for cutting the animal into its separate portions. That shared verb gives Ezekiel’s phrase physical force: each portion is cut apart and brought out, so the image of the pot is bodily and comprehensive.

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