What Does Ezekiel 39:10 Mean in the King James?
So that they shall take no wood out of the field, neither cut down any out of the forests; for they shall burn the weapons with fire: and they shall spoil those that spoiled them, and rob those that robbed them, saith the Lord GOD.
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 plunderer becomes the spoil, and the attackers’ weapons supply the fire without a tree being cut.
THE MEANING
Those who were stripped now strip their attackers, and those who were robbed now plunder their robbers. The weapons become fuel, so no wood needs to be gathered from field or forest. The verse depicts harm returning through the same actions by which it was inflicted.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that a plunderer can keep every gain untouched meets a reversal here: the plunderer is plundered.
THE ROOT
וְשָׁלְלוּ
veshalelu
GROWS FROM
שלל
sh-l-l
To strip away or take as spoil.
“spoil / spoilers” in this verse is veshalelu. The verb and the name for the people being plundered share the same root: they plunder their plunderers. English preserves the repetition, but the Hebrew makes the action and its target visibly grow from one seed.
ALSO GROWS
shalal: Spoil, booty
שָׁלָל
The plunder taken becomes the material at the heart of the reversal.
sholel: One who plunders
שֹׁלֵל
The former plunderer is named with the same root as the act now turned against them.
וּבָזְזוּ
uvazzu
GROWS FROM
בזז
b-z-z
To plunder or seize as spoil.
“rob / robbers” in this verse is uvazzu. The second pair repeats the same structure: they plunder those who plundered them. Two different roots name the return of the taking, making the reversal both doubled and concrete.
ALSO GROWS
baz: Spoil, plunder
בַּז
The noun names what is seized in the action described here.
bozez: One who plunders
בֹּזֵז
This branch names the plunderer, now placed on the receiving end of the same action.
THE PATTERN
The one who inflicts plunder or harm faces that same action returned upon them.
Woe to thee that spoilest, and thou wast not spoiled; and dealest treacherously, and they dealt not treacherously with thee! when thou shalt cease to spoil, thou shalt be spoiled; and when thou shalt make an end to deal treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with thee.For the day of the LORD is near upon all the heathen: as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee: thy reward shall return upon thine own head.He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.THE THREAD
Woe to thee that spoilest, and thou wast not spoiled; and dealest treacherously, and they dealt not treacherously with thee! when thou shalt cease to spoil, thou shalt be spoiled; and when thou shalt make an end to deal treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with thee.Isaiah makes explicit the reversal Ezekiel shows: the one who plunders is eventually plundered. Ezekiel’s repeated roots make that return tangible, as the action is turned directly upon the plunderers.
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