What Does Ezekiel 35:3 Mean in the King James?
And say unto it, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O mount Seir, I am against thee, and I will stretch out mine hand against thee, and I will make thee most desolate.
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 doubles the root of desolation where English says “most,” making ruin the destination rather than merely the degree.
THE MEANING
The verse confronts you now with a picture of judgment that is direct and devastating: the LORD is against Mount Seir, stretches out his hand, and leaves it desolate. The extended hand here is force, not protection.
THE ROOT
לְשִׁמְמָה וּלְמַשְׁמָמָה
lishmamah ulemashmamah
GROWS FROM
שׁמם
sh-m-m
To be desolate or appalled; in causative forms, to lay waste.
Hebrew pairs two forms from the root שׁמם, “for desolation and for ruin”, where English compresses the force into “most desolate.” The repeated seed makes devastation the whole destination, not merely an added shade around it.
ALSO GROWS
shemamah: Desolation, waste.
שְׁמָמָה
This form names the condition Mount Seir is made to enter.
mashmamah: Ruin, desolation.
מַשְׁמָמָה
This related form repeats the same root, intensifying the declaration through paired images of waste.
THE PATTERN
Judgment’s extended hand makes its target a place of desolation.
So will I stretch out my hand upon them, and make the land desolate, yea, more desolate than the wilderness toward Diblath, in all their habitations: and they shall know that I am the LORD.Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.THE THREAD
So will I stretch out my hand upon them, and make the land desolate, yea, more desolate than the wilderness toward Diblath, in all their habitations: and they shall know that I am the LORD.This verse repeats the same root of desolation alongside the image of the LORD’s hand extended against the land. The parallel makes the doubled language in Ezekiel 35:3 audible: the hand brings the target into ruin.
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