What Does Ezekiel 30:13 Mean in the King James?
Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will also destroy the idols, and I will cause their images to cease out of Noph; and there shall be no more a prince of the land of Egypt: and I will put a fear in the land of 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
Egypt loses both the images that claim divine power and the ruler lifted above it, then fear takes their place.
THE MEANING
This verse names a whole land’s judgment in full: its idols are destroyed, its prince is gone, and fear is set in the land. The collapse is public and political as well as sacred, with no promise in the sentence that the terror quickly ends.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It overturns the belief that sacred images and a ruler can guarantee a land’s safety: both are removed, and fear becomes the condition that remains.
THE ROOT
וְהַאֲבַדְתִּי
veha'avadti
GROWS FROM
אבד
ʾ-b-d
Perish, be lost; in the causative form here, cause to perish.
English says “destroy,” while the Hebrew verb grows from “perish” or “be lost”: the images are caused to perish. The same root also yields words for loss and destruction, framing these supposed powers as things vulnerable to disappearance.
ALSO GROWS
ʾābad: Perish, be lost.
אָבַד
This is the root verb behind the causative form in the verse.
ʾăbēdāh: Loss; a lost thing.
אֲבֵדָה
It carries the same seed of something that has disappeared or cannot be found.
ʾăbaddōn: Destruction, ruin.
אֲבַדּוֹן
It extends the root’s movement from being lost to destruction.
נָשִׂיא
nāśîʾ
GROWS FROM
נשא
n-ś-ʾ
Lift, carry, bear.
The word for “prince” is tied to the root for lifting: he is the one raised above the land. His removal is the loss of an elevated human authority alongside the disappearance of the images.
ALSO GROWS
nāśāʾ: Lift, carry, bear.
נָשָׂא
This verb is the root from which the title for the prince grows.
maśśāʾ: A burden or load.
מַשָּׂא
The same root can name what is carried, linking the lifted ruler to the weight borne by the land.
יִרְאָה
yirʾāh
GROWS FROM
ירא
y-r-ʾ
Fear, dread; awe when directed toward God.
The fear is paired with the verb “put” or “give,” so it is set into the land as a condition, not merely reported as a passing private feeling. With its idols and prince removed, dread is what the sentence says remains.
ALSO GROWS
yārēʾ: Fear, stand in awe.
יָרֵא
This verb is the source of the noun for fear used in the verse.
môrāʾ: Dread, terror.
מוֹרָא
This related form makes clear how the root can carry the force of imposed fear.
THE PATTERN
When divine authority confronts a land’s sources of power, its idols are abolished and its elevated rulers are brought down.
And the idols he shall utterly abolish.For all the gods of the nations are idols: but the LORD made the heavens.He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree.THE THREAD
Thou hast rebuked the heathen, thou hast destroyed the wicked, thou hast put out their name for ever and ever.“Destroyed” in this verse shares the root אבד (ʾābad), “perish, be lost,” with Ezekiel’s “destroy.” In both, the loss is decisive: what appears to stand as a power is caused to perish.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us