What Does Ezekiel 27:5 Mean in the King James?
They have made all thy ship boards of fir trees of Senir: they have taken cedars from Lebanon to make masts for thee.
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 ship’s grandeur depends on timber gathered from elsewhere and labor that gives it shape.
THE MEANING
The verse shows a whole assembled from distinct materials: its boards come from fir trees, and its masts from cedars. The finished vessel carries the traces of its sources and of the work that shapes it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a powerful whole stands by itself; its form depends on what it receives and on the work that shapes it.
THE ROOT
בָּנוּ
banu
GROWS FROM
בנה
to build, construct, or establish
“made” in this verse is banu. The Hebrew verb names the ship as something built, not as a self-existing whole. Its timber is identified by source, so the verse keeps both the shaping work and the materials behind the vessel in view.
ALSO GROWS
boneh: builder; one who builds
בּוֹנֶה
The same root names the work that turns materials into a structure.
mivneh: structure; arrangement
מִבְנֶה
The ship’s boards and mast become parts of a larger built form.
לְבָנוֹן
Levanon
GROWS FROM
לבן
to be white or become white
“Lebanon” in this verse is Levanon. The place name carries the root family of the Hebrew word for white. The cedars remain connected to their place of origin even as they become part of the ship.
ALSO GROWS
lavan: white
לָבָן
This adjective shares the name’s consonantal family and makes the whiteness inside Lebanon’s name audible.
hilbin: to whiten; make white
הִלְבִּין
This verb grows from the same root family, linking the place name to the action of becoming white.
THE PATTERN
A finished structure depends on materials, labor, and a source beyond itself.
Now therefore command thou that they hew me cedar trees out of Lebanon; and my servants shall be with thy servants: and unto thee will I give hire for thy servants according to all that thou shalt appoint: for thou knowest that there is not among us any that can skill to hew timber like unto the Sidonians.A Song of degrees for Solomon. Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.THE THREAD
Thy rowers have brought thee into great waters: the east wind hath broken thee in the midst of the seas.The boards and mast make the vessel appear as a coherent work of wealth, but its construction does not guarantee permanence. The same ship assembled from distant materials can still be broken in the waters it enters.
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