What Does Ezekiel 3:27 Mean in the King James?
But when I speak with thee, I will open thy mouth, and thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; He that heareth, let him hear; and he that forbeareth, let him forbear: for they are a rebellious house.
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 opened mouth delivers a word without compelling a response: Hebrew sets responsive hearing alongside the choice to cease.
THE MEANING
The word reaches you through a mouth opened by God, yet the speech does not erase your response. Hearing here carries the sense of receiving and answering, while refraining is also named plainly. The rebellious house shows that refusal can persist even where the word is spoken.
THE ROOT
הַשֹּׁמֵעַ יִשְׁמָע
ha-shōmēaʿ yišmāʿ
GROWS FROM
שמע
Hear, listen, heed; where response is implied, hear and respond.
“heareth” in this verse is ha-shōmēaʿ yišmāʿ. The phrase repeats the root: “the one hearing, let him hear.” Hearing stays connected to response, so the verse describes more than sound reaching an ear; it describes an answer to the word.
ALSO GROWS
shemaʿ: Hear and respond; listen attentively.
שְׁמַע
This familiar command carries hearing into response, the sense active in the verse’s repeated call to hear.
shemuʿah: A report, tidings; something heard.
שְׁמוּעָה
This noun carries hearing into a received message, matching the spoken word that reaches the house.
וְהֶחָדֵל יֶחְדָּל
ve-heḥādēl yeḥdal
GROWS FROM
חדל
Cease, stop, refrain, leave off.
“forbeareth” in this verse is ve-heḥādēl yeḥdal. The second clause repeats its root just as the first does: “the one refraining, let him refrain.” Here “forbear” carries the concrete sense of ceasing or holding back, setting restraint alongside responsive hearing.
ALSO GROWS
ḥidlū: Cease! Stop! (plural command)
חִדְלוּ
This form makes the root’s sense of cessation vivid beside the verse’s repeated call to hear.
yeḥdal: He ceases; let him cease.
יֶחְדַּל
This is the verse’s own repeated verb, making refraining the counterpart to hearing’s repeated verb.
וּבְדַבְּרִי
u-ve-dabberî
GROWS FROM
דבר
Speak; the same root also names a word, matter, or thing.
“speak” in this verse is u-ve-dabberî. The act of speaking and the word carried by that speech grow from the same consonants. The mouth opens as speech arrives, so the utterance is presented as received and voiced.
ALSO GROWS
dābār: Word, matter, thing.
דָּבָר
The spoken word can also be a matter set before the hearers, the very thing to which they respond.
dibbēr: He spoke, uttered.
דִּבֵּר
This verb shares the seed of davar, tying the prophet’s speech to the word itself.
THE PATTERN
Once a word or choice is set before people, their response reveals whether they receive it, follow it, or refuse it.
I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:And some believed the things which were spoken, and some believed not.THE THREAD
And they, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear, (for they are a rebellious house,) yet shall know that there hath been a prophet among them.This verse uses the same roots for hearing (שמע, shamaʿ, hear and respond) and ceasing (חדל, ḥadal, refrain), within the same rebellious-house frame. It adds that even refusal does not erase the prophet’s presence, so the opened mouth is not measured by unanimous response.
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