What Does Ezekiel 36:37 Mean in the King James?
Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them; I will increase them with men like a flock.
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 promise includes a God who is willing to be sought as the increase is brought forth.
THE MEANING
God’s intention is not sealed off from your voice: the promised restoration includes your seeking, and God remains the one who brings it about. The increase is pictured as a human flock, lives gathered into abundance.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that because God has promised something, your asking no longer matters; the promise itself includes God being sought.
THE ROOT
אִדָּרֵשׁ
’iddārēš
GROWS FROM
דָּרַשׁ
dāraš
To seek, inquire, consult, or pursue.
Beneath “be enquired of” is a verb that also means to seek or consult; the clause carries the sense of God becoming the one Israel seeks. A branch of the same root names interpretive study, preserving the image of searching until meaning opens.
ALSO GROWS
derishah: Inquiry, seeking, or request.
דְּרִישָׁה
This branch carries the same movement as the verse: seeking God about what God promises to do.
midrash: Interpretive exposition or study.
מִדְרָשׁ
Its shared root frames study as a search that draws out meaning, echoing a promise entered through inquiry.
אֲרַבֶּה
’ărabbêh
GROWS FROM
רָבָה
rāḇâ
To become many, multiply, or increase.
The verb for increase grows from a root of becoming many. Here the promised abundance takes the shape of a flock of people: growth appears as lives gathered together.
ALSO GROWS
rav: Many, much, or great.
רַב
This branch names the abundance toward which the verse’s promise of increase points.
rov: Multitude or abundance.
רֹב
The related noun makes the outcome concrete: the increase becomes a gathered multitude.
THE PATTERN
God’s promised work welcomes human seeking, while God remains the one who brings the promise to pass.
I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:THE THREAD
Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:Ezekiel’s “be enquired of” and Isaiah’s “Seek” come from דָּרַשׁ (dāraš, to seek or inquire), so the same movement underlies both verses. Isaiah makes Ezekiel’s promise tangible now: seeking meets a God who is near and can be found.
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