What Does Ezekiel 35:6 Mean in the King James?

Therefore, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will prepare thee unto blood, and blood shall pursue thee: sith thou hast not hated blood, even blood shall pursue thee.

Ezekiel 35:6 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

The verse turns blood from what is shed into what pursues the one who would not reject it.

THE MEANING

The verse speaks to you now as a stark reversal: blood is no longer only what is shed but what pursues. Violence left unopposed does not stay finished; it becomes a claim that follows the one who refuses to reject it.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the belief that violence ends when the event ends: here, the blood still follows.

THE ROOT

יִרְדֹּפֶךָ

yirdofecha

GROWS FROM

רדף

radaph

to chase after, pursue

“pursue” in this verse is yirdofecha. The root names both the pursuer and the pursued. Here, blood takes the active role: what was shed becomes what follows.

ALSO GROWS

rodef: pursuer, one who chases

רֹדֵף

The active form makes pursuit an agent’s action, matching the verse’s image of blood following someone.

nirdaf: one pursued, persecuted

נִרְדָּף

The same root can describe the one being chased; the verse reverses that position by making blood the pursuer.

שָׂנֵאתָ

sane'ta

GROWS FROM

שׂנא

sana

to hate, reject, or regard with hostility

“hated” in this verse is sane'ta. The verse turns on whether bloodshed is rejected. Its consequence mirrors that refusal: blood itself becomes the force that pursues.

ALSO GROWS

sin'ah: hatred

שִׂנְאָה

This noun carries the same root’s active rejection, sharpening the verse’s focus on whether bloodshed is opposed.

sanu: hated, detested

שָׂנוּא

This form shows the root’s other direction: the one or thing that receives hostility.

THE PATTERN

Bloodshed remains an active witness and claim; it does not vanish when the act ends.

And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground.

Genesis 4:10 · KJVAbel’s blood cries from the ground, giving the violence a voice that remains after the act.

So ye shall not pollute the land wherein ye are: for blood it defileth the land: and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed therein, but by the blood of him that shed it.

Numbers 35:33 · KJVThe verse presents shed blood as a stain that remains on the land and demands an answer.

And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?

Revelation 6:10 · KJVThe slain still cry out for judgment, showing that their blood remains a claim upon the living.

THE THREAD

And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground.

Genesis 4:10 · KJV

Genesis gives ⁨דָּם⁩ (dam, blood) a voice from the ground; Ezekiel gives the same word the act of pursuing. Blood moves from witness to pursuer, remaining an active claim after the violence.

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