What Does Ezekiel 38:15 Mean in the King James?
And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts, thou, and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army:
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 northern origin carries a root-sense of concealment, while the verse shows that hidden force becoming a massed army.
THE MEANING
This verse shows danger taking shape as a mass: people arrive together from a remote northern region, mounted and organized into a formidable army. The threat is concrete, with a direction, a scale, and a force.
THE ROOT
צָפוֹן
tsāfōn
GROWS FROM
צפן
To hide, keep hidden, or store away.
“north parts” in this verse is tsāfōn. The Hebrew noun for north is linked to צפן, the root of hiding or storing away. The verse gives the force a remote point of emergence, with a word that also carries the sense of what is concealed.
ALSO GROWS
tsāphan: To hide or store away.
צָפַן
It reveals the root sense beneath the directional word for north.
tsāfūn: Hidden or concealed.
צָפוּן
This branch echoes the concealed quality carried by the verse’s northern origin.
קָהָל
qāhāl
GROWS FROM
קהל
To gather or assemble.
“Company” here is an assembly, not simply an unspecified crowd. The wording moves from many peoples to a great assembly and then to a mighty army, showing multitude becoming organized force.
ALSO GROWS
qāhal: To assemble or gather.
קָהַל
The verb names the gathering that makes the many into one company.
hiqhīl: To cause to assemble or gather.
הִקְהִיל
This causative form highlights the movement into a gathered body.
THE PATTERN
The text marks force through accumulation: peoples gather into an assembly, and the assembly becomes an army.
The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying,And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army.THE THREAD
And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts, and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:“North parts” repeats the same Hebrew word צָפוֹן. The force that arrives from the north in this verse is turned back in the next movement, making its route part of the passage’s unfolding.
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