What Does Ezekiel 44:5 Mean in the King James?
And the LORD said unto me, Son of man, mark well, and behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears all that I say unto thee concerning all the ordinances of the house of the LORD, and all the laws thereof; and mark well the entering in of the house, with every going forth of the sanctuary.
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 repeated “mark well” is “set your heart,” so even the sanctuary’s entrances and exits fall within the heart’s field of attention.
THE MEANING
You are addressed as a whole perceiver: your heart is set, your eyes behold, and your ears hear. The LORD’s instruction concerns the house’s ordinances and teaching, and its thresholds too: every entrance and departure belongs to what you attend to.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The sacred is encountered only inwardly, while what the eyes see, the ears hear, and the body passes through is incidental.
THE ROOT
שִׂים לִבְּךָ
sim libbekha
GROWS FROM
שים
sim
to set, put, or place
“mark well / set your heart” in this verse is sim libbekha. The Hebrew sets the heart three times; the KJV’s “mark well” carries two of those placements, while the surrounding words carry the middle one. The heart is placed toward the whole message, then specifically toward the house’s entrance and departure.
ALSO GROWS
sam: he set, placed
שָׂם
A completed form of the same verb makes setting concrete: the heart is placed toward a particular subject.
mesimah: assignment, task
מְשִׂימָה
An assignment is something set before someone, echoing how the verse directs attention toward the LORD’s speech and the house’s movements.
מוֹצָאֵי
motza’ei
GROWS FROM
יצא
yatsa
to go out, depart, or emerge
The phrase for “going forth” belongs to the root of going out and exits, and the same root names the going-out from Egypt. Here, departures receive the same attention as entrances; the wider root also carries the resonance of movement out of constriction.
ALSO GROWS
motsa: exit, outlet, departure
מוֹצָא
This noun makes the sanctuary’s way out part of the text’s explicit focus.
Yetziat Mitzrayim: the going-out from Egypt
יְצִיאַת מִצְרַיִם
The same root names the Exodus, echoing the scriptural movement out of constriction without equating that event with the sanctuary’s departures.
שְׁמָע
shemaʿ
GROWS FROM
שמע
shamaʿ
to hear, listen, and receive what is heard
“hear” in this verse is shemaʿ. Hearing belongs to a joined attention: the ears receive the words toward which the heart is set, while the eyes behold. Because the words concern ordinances and instruction, hearing carries the sense of receiving and responding, not sound detached from life.
ALSO GROWS
shemu’ah: report, news; something heard
שְׁמוּעָה
A report is received by hearing, linking the ear to the message that is being given.
Shema Yisrael: Hear, Israel; hear and respond
שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל
The same imperative opens a call to receive and answer, matching this verse’s hearing of instruction.
THE PATTERN
Attention to sacred instruction gathers the heart, the senses, and the path of movement into one field.
And he said unto them, Set your hearts unto all the words which I testify among you this day, which ye shall command your children to observe to do, all the words of this law.My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings.And he said unto them, Take heed what ye hear: with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given.THE THREAD
And the man said unto me, Son of man, behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears, and set thine heart upon all that I shall shew thee; for to the intent that I might shew them unto thee art thou brought hither: declare all that thou seest to the house of Israel.This verse uses the same Hebrew phrase for setting the heart alongside seeing with the eyes and hearing with the ears. It opens the current verse further: the sanctuary’s instruction and its entrances and departures are received through the whole perceiver.
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