What Does Ezekiel 31:3 Mean in the King James?

Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with fair branches, and with a shadowing shroud, and of an high stature; and his top was among the thick boughs.

Ezekiel 31:3 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

Here, power’s height and its shade belong to one image: the Assyrian towers over others while becoming their canopy.

THE MEANING

Power appears as a cedar: beautifully branching, towering in stature, and casting a broad shadow. Its height and canopy make it seem both sovereign and sheltering, a presence beneath which other life can gather.

THE ROOT

גָּבֹהַּ

gavoah

GROWS FROM

גבה

To be high or lifted up.

“high stature” in this verse is gavoah. The root ⁨גבה⁩ (g-b-h) holds together being high and height, so the verse’s “stature” is more than size: it is elevation. Later in this same cedar image, Ezekiel uses the root for a lifted heart, letting the tree’s physical rise open into an inner posture.

ALSO GROWS

gavah: To be elevated or lifted up.

גָּבַהּ

The same root describes the lifted heart in Ezekiel 31:10, linking the cedar’s height with the posture represented by it.

gobah: Height or elevation.

גֹּבַהּ

This noun makes elevation itself part of the root’s meaning, echoing the cedar’s high stature.

THE PATTERN

A tree’s rise becomes a sheltering canopy in which other creatures find a place.

In the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it: and it shall bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar: and under it shall dwell all fowl of every wing; in the shadow of the branches thereof shall they dwell.

Ezekiel 17:23 · KJVThe cedar’s branching and shadow become a dwelling place for creatures of every kind.

The leaves thereof were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and in it was meat for all: the beasts of the field had shadow under it, and the fowls of the heaven dwelt in the boughs thereof, and all flesh was fed of it.

Daniel 4:12 · KJVThe great tree’s height and abundance extend shade and food to many forms of life.

Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.

Matthew 13:32 · KJVA grown tree’s branches give the birds a place to lodge.

THE THREAD

Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast lifted up thyself in height, and he hath shot up his top among the thick boughs, and his heart is lifted up in his height;

Ezekiel 31:10 · KJV

The same root ⁨גבה⁩ (gavah, to be high or lifted up) returns in “lifted up in height” and “his heart is lifted up.” What first appears as the cedar’s physical stature opens into the inner elevation represented by its height.

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