What Does Ezekiel 43:16 Mean in the King James?

And the altar shall be twelve cubits long, twelve broad, square in the four squares thereof.

Ezekiel 43:16 · 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.

THE KEY

The Hebrew makes “square” and “four sides” echo the same root, as if the altar’s form is named by its fourfoldness.

THE MEANING

You meet the altar as a twelve-by-twelve square, its four-sided form made explicit. The place of offering holds one measure on every side, with no direction extending beyond the others.

THE ROOT

רָבוּעַ

ravua

GROWS FROM

רבע

r-b-ʿ

Four; a four-sided or square form.

The Hebrew places ⁨רָבוּעַ⁩ (ravua, square) beside ⁨אַרְבַּעַת⁩ (arba’at, four) and ⁨רְבָעָיו⁩ (reva’av, its quarters or sides), repeating the consonants ⁨ר־ב־ע⁩. English gives the measurements, while the Hebrew makes the square’s fourfold form audible in the wording itself.

ALSO GROWS

arba‘: Four

אַרְבַּע

The verse uses this form in “four sides,” echoing the root that names the altar’s square form.

reva’av: Its quarters or sides

רְבָעָיו

This form names the altar’s four parts and repeats the same root within the description of its shape.

THE PATTERN

Sacred architecture makes wholeness visible through forms whose measures are equal in every direction.

And thou shalt make an altar of shittim wood, five cubits long, and five cubits broad; the altar shall be foursquare: and the height thereof shall be three cubits.

Exodus 27:1 · KJVThe altar is again given equal length and breadth and described as foursquare.

And the oracle in the forepart was twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in the height thereof: and he overlaid it with pure gold; and so covered the altar which was of cedar.

1 Kings 6:20 · KJVThe inner sanctuary takes equal measure in length, breadth, and height, carrying the same pattern of completeness into sacred space.

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.

Revelation 21:16 · KJVThe city’s equal dimensions extend the square form into a complete dwelling.

THE THREAD

And thou shalt make an altar of shittim wood, five cubits long, and five cubits broad; the altar shall be foursquare: and the height thereof shall be three cubits.

Exodus 27:1 · KJV

Exodus uses the same Hebrew word ⁨רָבוּעַ⁩ (ravua, square) for the altar’s foursquare form. Across both passages, the altar’s fourfold shape is carried by the same Hebrew seed.

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