What Does Ezekiel 32:3 Mean in the King James?
Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will therefore spread out my net over thee with a company of many people; and they shall bring thee up in my net.
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
What looks like sovereign strength can become the thing the net gathers, with the many serving as the hands that haul it into view.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks now as a scene of capture: a net spreads over you, and a multitude brings you up inside it. The force that seems free to move is surrounded and made visible through many hands. The capture is announced as certain before it is complete.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that great power cannot be captured is overturned: the one inside the net is brought up by the many.
THE ROOT
וּפָרַשְׂתִּי
ufarasti
GROWS FROM
פרשׂ
to spread out, stretch forth
“spread out” in this verse is ufarasti. Scripture uses this same verb for spreading hands toward the LORD and spreading a net across a target. Here, extension becomes enclosure: what reaches over you makes you catchable and brings you up.
ALSO GROWS
efros: Stretch out or spread the hands
אֶפְרֹשׂ
The same root can describe open hands; here that outward reach becomes the casting of a net over someone.
ufarasti: Stretch out a net over a target
וּפָרַשְׂתִּי
Ezekiel 12:13 uses the same verb and image, making the movement of spreading itself part of the capture.
בִּקְהַל
bəqahal
GROWS FROM
קהל
to assemble, gather
“company” in this verse is bəqahal. The phrase names an assembled body, not a crowd merely watching nearby. The many are built into the action: they bring the one caught in the net up into view.
ALSO GROWS
qahal: An assembled gathering or congregation
קָהָל
The many peoples form a gathered body around the one caught.
vayyaqhel: Assembled or brought together
וַיַּקְהֵל
The verb shows the same root as an act of gathering; here the gathered multitude becomes the means of capture.
THE PATTERN
A net converts movement into capture, gathering what ranges freely into an exposed catch.
The proud have hid a snare for me, and cords; they have spread a net by the wayside; they have set gins for me. Selah.When they shall go, I will spread my net upon them; I will bring them down as the fowls of the heaven; I will chastise them, as their congregation hath heard.Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind:THE THREAD
My net also will I spread upon him, and he shall be taken in my snare: and I will bring him to Babylon to the land of the Chaldeans; yet shall he not see it, though he shall die there.This verse uses the same Hebrew root, פרשׂ (paras), for spreading the net over its target. The image makes the capture concrete: the one caught is brought away, so the net means more than restraint, it makes the captive visible and carries him out.
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