What Does Ezekiel 31:6 Mean in the King James?
All the fowls of heaven made their nests in his boughs, and under his branches did all the beasts of the field bring forth their young, and under his shadow dwelt all great nations.
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 tree’s scale is revealed by what it makes possible beneath it: nesting, birth, and nations dwelling in its shade.
THE MEANING
The tree’s reach appears in the life gathered around it: birds nest in its boughs, beasts give birth beneath its branches, and many nations settle under its shadow. The canopy is shelter, and it is also dominion, a multitude lives beneath one towering presence.
THE ROOT
יָלְדוּ
yaladu
GROWS FROM
ילד
To bear, beget, or bring forth.
“brought forth their young” in this verse is yaladu. The Hebrew verb carries the root of birth and begetting. The tree’s branches shelter not only life that already exists, but new life beginning beneath them.
ALSO GROWS
yeled: Child; one who has been born.
יֶלֶד
The same root names the offspring produced beneath the tree, making its branches a place where life begins.
moledet: Birth, birthplace, or origin.
מוֹלֶדֶת
The root can extend from a birth to a people’s origin, giving the sheltered births a generational scale.
יֵשְׁבוּ
yeshevu
GROWS FROM
ישב
To sit, remain, settle, or dwell.
“dwelt” in this verse is yeshevu. The verb for dwelling grows from the root for sitting: the nations take their place beneath the tree rather than merely passing through. Its shade becomes a settled world gathered around one towering presence.
ALSO GROWS
moshav: A dwelling place, seat, or settlement.
מוֹשָׁב
This branch shows how the act of dwelling can become a place where people settle.
yoshev: One who sits or dwells; an inhabitant.
יוֹשֵׁב
The root links the nations’ dwelling to the people who take up residence beneath the canopy.
צֵל
tsel
GROWS FROM
צלל
To shade or become dark.
“shadow” in this verse is tsel. The Hebrew word names the darkened space created by the tree’s height. Here that shade is broad enough to hold nations, not just individual creatures.
ALSO GROWS
tsel: Shadow or shade.
צֵל
This is the word for the canopy’s shelter, which becomes a shared dwelling for many.
tsalal: To grow dark or become shaded.
צָלַל
This verbal branch evokes the shading action that turns the ground beneath the tree into a covered place.
THE PATTERN
A great tree’s reach is measured by the many lives its branches shelter.
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.By them shall the fowls of the heaven have their habitation, which sing among the branches.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.THE THREAD
He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.Both verses use צֵל (tsel, shadow) for the shelter beneath a powerful presence. Ezekiel pictures a tree’s canopy gathering nations; Psalm 91 places that shelter under the Almighty.
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