What Does Ezekiel 35:2 Mean in the King James?
Son of man, set thy face against mount Seir, and prophesy against it,
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
Hebrew links “face” with turning, so the prophet’s orientation toward Mount Seir is already the first act of confrontation.
THE MEANING
The face turns toward a named target, and the prophetic word is directed onto it. The verse speaks of divine speech that confronts openly, without softening what it says.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that divine speech always arrives as reassurance: here the word is explicitly directed against its target.
THE ROOT
פָּנִים
panim
GROWS FROM
פנה
p-n-h
To turn, turn toward, or face.
פָּנִים (panim, face/presence) carries a sense of orientation as well as sight. The repeated עַל (‘al, upon/over) places both the face and the prophetic word upon the same target; “against” conveys the force of that directed address.
ALSO GROWS
panah: Turn, turn toward, face.
פָּנָה
The verb makes the face’s direction active: the prophet turns toward the place he addresses.
lifnei: Before, in front of.
לִפְנֵי
This word places something in relation to the face, preserving the root’s sense of orientation and presence.
שֵׂעִיר
Se'ir
GROWS FROM
שׂער
ś-ʿ-r
Hair; becoming hairy or shaggy.
“Mount Seir” in this verse is Se'ir. The name Seir is commonly understood as “hairy” or “shaggy.” Its root preserves a rough, bristling image inside the place-name, keeping the verse’s target concrete rather than abstract.
ALSO GROWS
se'ar: Hair.
שֵׂעָר
This branch gives the root’s basic image: a covering of hair.
sa'ir: Hairy, shaggy; also a he-goat.
שָׂעִיר
This branch carries the rough, shaggy quality heard in the name Seir.
THE PATTERN
The prophetic word turns directly toward what it confronts: its target is named, faced, and addressed.
Son of man, set thy face toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy against them,And said, O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?THE THREAD
Son of man, set thy face toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy against them,The same command returns: set the face toward the object before speaking against it. The repeated פָּנִים (panim, face/presence) ties orientation to proclamation, making the confrontation spatially direct.
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