What Does Ezekiel 44:21 Mean in the King James?
Neither shall any priest drink wine, when they enter into the inner court.
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 word for “inner” belongs to the Hebrew family of “face” and “turning toward,” so the wine boundary marks how the priest comes into that place of presence.
THE MEANING
The approach to the inner place carries a boundary around what is taken in: the priest comes into the court without wine. Presence here is embodied in the act of arrival, not just the place reached.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the idea that standing in a sacred place is enough; what the body carries into it matters at the threshold.
THE ROOT
הַפְּנִימִית
happenimit
GROWS FROM
פנה
panah
To turn, face toward, or direct oneself.
The court’s adjective belongs to the family of פָּנִים (panim, “face” or “presence”) and פְּנִימָה (penimah, “inward”). The inner court is more than a deeper room: its name echoes inward-facing presence, and the wine boundary falls at its approach.
ALSO GROWS
panim: Face; presence.
פָּנִים
This branch links the language of inwardness with being before or facing someone.
penimah: Inward; toward the inside.
פְּנִימָה
This is the direction named by “inner,” making the court a place approached inward.
יִשְׁתּוּ
yishtu
GROWS FROM
שתה
shatah
To drink, to take liquid in.
“drink” in this verse is yishtu. This root reaches from the act of drinking to מִשְׁתֶּה (mishteh, “drinking feast”) and שָׁתוּי (shatui, “drunk”). It links wine intake with the occasion and state it can produce, while Ezekiel places the limit at entry into the inner court.
ALSO GROWS
mishteh: A feast or drinking banquet.
מִשְׁתֶּה
The root can name a whole occasion organized around drinking, not only the act itself.
shatui: Drunk; intoxicated.
שָׁתוּי
This branch names a state associated with drinking, sharpening the boundary the verse places at the court’s entrance.
THE PATTERN
Scripture places boundaries around intoxicating drink where a person’s discernment serves others.
Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations: And that ye may put difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean; And that ye may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the LORD hath spoken unto them by the hand of Moses.It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes strong drink: Lest they drink, and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted.A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach; Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous;THE THREAD
It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes strong drink: Lest they drink, and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted.The verb “drink” in both passages comes from שתה (shatah, “drink”). Proverbs names the risk, forgetting instruction and distorting justice, so Ezekiel’s threshold rule opens onto a wider link between restraint and clear judgment.
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