What Does Ezekiel 33:1 Mean in the King James?
Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
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 LORD’s דָּבָר (dābār, word or matter) is paired with וַיְהִי (wayhi, it was or happened): the address arrives as something taking place.
THE MEANING
This address meets you now as more than information: it is speech taking place in your life. “Again” names return, and the returning word reaches you in the present.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that God’s word is only distant information: here, the word reaches the reader as a present event.
THE ROOT
דָּבָר
dābār
GROWS FROM
ד־ב־ר
d-b-r
To speak; the noun can mean a word, matter, or thing.
The same root holds speech and matter together. The LORD’s word is both what is said and the matter that arrives to the one addressed, a depth that the English gloss “word” can leave out.
ALSO GROWS
dibber: He spoke
דִּבֵּר
This verbal form makes the root’s speech dimension clear: a matter can also be spoken.
devarim: Words; matters or things
דְּבָרִים
The plural preserves both senses, showing that “word” can refer to spoken content and the matter at hand.
וַיְהִי
wayhi
GROWS FROM
ה־י־ה
h-y-h
To be, become, or happen.
The KJV’s “came” gives the clause a sense of arrival; the Hebrew form also carries “was” or “happened.” Together with the word or matter, the line presents the address as something taking place.
ALSO GROWS
hayah: To be, become, happen
הָיָה
This verb gives the clause its sense of being or coming to pass.
yihyeh: He or it will be
יִהְיֶה
The same root can name what is yet to be, carrying the sense of being across time.
THE PATTERN
God’s word reaches people as living speech whose effects enter the world.
By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.THE THREAD
By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.Psalm 33:6 uses the same דָּבָר (dābār, word or matter) and places it alongside רוּחַ (rûaḥ, breath). The pairing opens Ezekiel’s arriving address onto the word and breath through which the psalm describes creation.
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