What Does Ezekiel 40:20 Mean in the King James?
And the gate of the outward court that looked toward the north, he measured the length thereof, and the breadth thereof.
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 gate’s breadth shares a root with the Hebrew word for an open, spacious place: even a measured boundary can hold room.
THE MEANING
The verse gives the north-facing gate of the outer court a measurable form: it has both length and breadth. The Hebrew word for breadth belongs to a word family that also names spaciousness, so the entrance’s design holds openness and defined dimensions together.
THE ROOT
וְרָחְבּוֹ
ve-roḥbo
GROWS FROM
רחב
r-ḥ-b
To be wide; to become spacious.
English gives you a dimension; the Hebrew root also carries the sense of wideness and spaciousness. The same root appears in a word for an open, spacious place, so the gate’s breadth echoes more than a measurement: it also evokes room.
ALSO GROWS
merḥav: A wide or open space.
מֶרְחָב
Psalm 18:19 uses this word for the “large place” into which the speaker is brought, revealing the same root’s sense of room and openness.
reḥov: An open public space or street.
רְחֹב
This branch carries wideness into a shared, open place, echoing the breadth named in the gate’s dimensions.
THE PATTERN
Sacred space is given defined dimensions, with breadth named alongside length.
And the breadth of the court on the east side eastward shall be fifty cubits.And the house which king Solomon built for the LORD, the length thereof was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof twenty cubits, and the height thereof thirty cubits.And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal.THE THREAD
He brought me forth also into a large place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me.The Hebrew word for “breadth” in Ezekiel comes from רחב (r-ḥ-b), the same root found in מֶרְחָב (merḥav), “a spacious place,” in Psalm 18:19. The shared root lets the gate’s measured breadth echo the language of openness and room.
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