What Does Ezekiel 3:4 Mean in the King James?
And he said unto me, Son of man, go, get thee unto the house of Israel, and speak with my words unto them.
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
Hebrew joins “speak” and “my words” in one root, making the messenger’s voice the continuation of a word he did not originate.
THE MEANING
You are a human being who receives before speaking: the words move through you toward others, while their source remains distinct from the messenger. The verse holds together the person who carries the message and the one from whom it comes.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that every word carried by a human voice must originate in that speaker’s own mind.
THE ROOT
בִּדְבָרַי
bidvarai
GROWS FROM
ד־ב־ר
d-b-r
Speak, speech, word, or matter; this root forms both the act of speaking and the word spoken.
“words / speak” in this verse is bidvarai. The same root seed binds the messenger’s speaking to the words he receives. His voice carries a message whose source is elsewhere.
ALSO GROWS
dibber: He spoke.
דִּבֶּר
This is the speaking in the verse, from the same root as the “words” entrusted to the messenger.
davar: Word, matter, or event.
דָּבָר
The word can also be a matter that takes shape; the message is carried speech with substance, not merely sound.
בֶּן־אָדָם
ben-adam
GROWS FROM
א־ד־ם
ʾ-d-m
Human; linked with אֲדָמָה (adamah), ground or soil.
“Son of man” in this verse is ben-adam. The address names the messenger as a ground-born human being, not a voice without a body. The received word enters the community through a human life.
ALSO GROWS
adam: Human being or humankind; also the name Adam.
אָדָם
The messenger is addressed through his shared human nature.
adamah: Ground or soil.
אֲדָמָה
The name’s link to ground keeps the commission embodied: a human voice carries the words into the world.
THE PATTERN
A messenger carries received words into the world, while their source remains beyond the messenger.
I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.Then the LORD put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth.If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.THE THREAD
So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.Both verses draw on ד־ב־ר (d-b-r), the root meaning speak or word: here the word is received and spoken; in Isaiah it goes out and accomplishes its purpose. The connection opens the commission beyond the moment of utterance, the sent word has work to do once it leaves the speaker.
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