What Does Ezekiel 43:7 Mean in the King James?
And he said unto me, Son of man, the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever, and my holy name, shall the house of Israel no more defile, neither they, nor their kings, by their whoredom, nor by the carcases of their kings in their high places.
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 root for “holy” also forms “sanctuary,” tying the nature carried in God’s name to the house this verse says can be defiled.
THE MEANING
This verse places God’s throne, foot-rest, and settled presence in your midst, at the center of the house. It names the desecration plainly: whoredom and the corpses of kings at their high places defile the place where God’s name is borne. Divine nearness and desecration occupy the same space.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that a place marked by God’s presence cannot be profaned.
THE ROOT
קָדְשִׁי
qodshi
GROWS FROM
קדש
q-d-sh
Set apart; treat as sacred.
Hebrew shares one root between set-apartness and sanctuary. The phrase שֵׁם קָדְשִׁי (shem qodshi, “my holy name”) joins God’s name-as-nature to the sacred space the verse says Israel defiles.
ALSO GROWS
qodesh: Set-apartness; holiness; what is sacred.
קֹדֶשׁ
It names the sacred quality of God’s name from the same root as “holy.”
miqdash: Sanctuary; sacred place.
מִקְדָּשׁ
The sanctuary grows from the same root, linking the holiness of the name with the house where God’s presence dwells.
אֶשְׁכָּן
eshkon
GROWS FROM
שׁכן
sh-k-n
Settle; dwell among.
“dwell” in this verse is eshkon. The verb comes from the same root as the word for tabernacle, so the dwelling here is settled presence. Its placement “in the midst” makes that nearness part of the verse’s architecture.
ALSO GROWS
mishkan: Dwelling place; tabernacle.
מִשְׁכָּן
The same root names the place of God’s dwelling, connecting God’s presence with the house in the verse.
shakhen: Neighbor; one who dwells nearby.
שָׁכֵן
The root also describes someone living alongside others, echoing the verse’s image of God dwelling in their midst.
יְטַמְּאוּ
yitammə'u
GROWS FROM
טמא
ṭ-m-ʾ
Be unclean; make unclean; defile.
“defile” in this verse is yitammə'u. The act of defiling and the state of uncleanness belong to one root family. The verse names concrete sources of that defilement, whoredom and the corpses of kings at their high places, within the shared dwelling.
ALSO GROWS
tame: Unclean.
טָמֵא
It names the condition produced by the defiling act in the verse.
tumah: Uncleanness; impurity.
טֻמְאָה
It names the state associated with the root that Ezekiel uses for “defile.”
THE PATTERN
A dwelling designated for God’s presence can be contaminated by the practices and powers housed within it.
Thus shall ye separate the children of Israel from their uncleanness; that they die not in their uncleanness, when they defile my tabernacle that is among them.They have cast fire into thy sanctuary, they have defiled by casting down the dwelling place of thy name to the ground.Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.THE THREAD
Thus shall ye separate the children of Israel from their uncleanness; that they die not in their uncleanness, when they defile my tabernacle that is among them.Leviticus uses טמא (ṭ-m-ʾ, “be unclean; defile”), the same root Ezekiel uses for “defile.” It also names God’s tabernacle as dwelling among the people, bringing together the presence and pollution Ezekiel holds in the same verse.
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