What Does Ezekiel 29:2 Mean in the King James?
Son of man, set thy face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him, and against all Egypt:
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 face turns toward Pharaoh before the prophetic word comes against him: the power of constriction is faced directly before it is named.
THE MEANING
This verse meets you where constriction has a ruler: the force narrowing your life comes into view and is addressed plainly. The movement is from turning toward what holds power to speaking against its hold, without softening the confrontation.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that the power enclosing a life is too great to be faced or named.
THE ROOT
פָּנִים
panim panekha
GROWS FROM
פ-נ-ה
p-n-h
To turn or face toward.
English renders two different Hebrew prepositions as “against”: אֶל (el, toward) after “set thy face,” then עַל (al, upon or against) after “prophesy.” With פָּנִים (panim, face) linked to פָּנָה (panah, turn or face toward), the movement is first to orient toward Pharaoh, then let the prophetic word come upon him.
ALSO GROWS
panah: To turn or face toward.
פָּנָה
The face is not simply set in opposition; it is deliberately turned toward its target.
peniyyah: A turning or approach.
פְּנִיָּה
It echoes the verse’s first movement: direct attention toward the power that will be addressed.
מִצְרַיִם
Mitzrayim
GROWS FROM
צ-ר-ר
ts-r-r
To bind, press into narrowness, or bring distress; מִצְרַיִם (Mitzrayim) carries the image of constriction, the two narrows.
Egypt names more than a place in this reading: it holds the shape of narrowness and distress. Pharaoh is the ruler named in the same breath as that constriction, and the face is turned directly toward him.
ALSO GROWS
tsar: Narrow, constricting; in some uses, an adversary.
צַר
It joins the experience of being pressed into a narrow place with the force that presses against you.
metsar: A narrow place or distress.
מֵצַר
It makes visible the constricted condition carried by the name Mitzrayim.
הִנָּבֵא
hinnabeʾ
GROWS FROM
נ-ב-א
n-b-ʾ
To speak as a prophet; to utter a prophetic message.
“prophesy” in this verse is hinnabeʾ. The command does not stop at turning toward Egypt; the directed face becomes speech addressed to the ruler and the whole land. Prophetic speech brings the confrontation into the open.
ALSO GROWS
navi: A prophet.
נָבִיא
The speaker is named by the work of carrying prophetic speech.
nevuʾah: Prophecy or a prophetic message.
נְבוּאָה
It names the utterance that this verse directs toward Pharaoh and Egypt.
THE PATTERN
Constricting power is confronted by speech that names release and loosens its hold.
And afterward Moses and Aaron went in, and told Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness.Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,THE THREAD
Son of man, set thy face toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy against them,The same Hebrew words for “set thy face” and “prophesy against” recur here: פָּנִים (panim, face) and נָבָא (nabaʾ, prophesy). The repeated roots show the same movement, turn toward the named target, then speak directly against it.
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