What Does Ezekiel 45:2 Mean in the King James?

Of this there shall be for the sanctuary five hundred in length, with five hundred in breadth, square round about; and fifty cubits round about for the suburbs thereof.

Ezekiel 45:2 · 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.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

The sanctuary’s set-apart center includes the measured open space around it.

THE MEANING

The verse gives the sanctuary a defined shape: five hundred cubits square, with fifty cubits of open ground around it. Set-apartness has both a center and a margin; the space around the sacred place belongs to its design.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It dissolves the assumption that open ground is leftover or wasted: here, the margin is part of the sanctuary’s measure.

THE ROOT

מִקְדָּשׁ

miqdash

GROWS FROM

קדשׁ

q-d-sh

Set apart, dedicate as sacred.

The sanctuary is named from the root of being set apart. The same root describes both the holy place and the act or quality of setting something apart, so the measured ground gives that distinction a visible shape.

ALSO GROWS

qadosh: Set apart; sacred.

קָדוֹשׁ

The sanctuary is set apart as a distinct place, not merely given a sacred label.

qodesh: Set-apartness; sacred space.

קֹדֶשׁ

This related form names the quality the sanctuary embodies, which the measured boundary makes spatially visible.

מִגְרָשׁ

migrash

GROWS FROM

גרשׁ

g-r-sh

Drive out, send away, expel.

The KJV’s “suburbs” here means the open ground around a settlement. Its link with garash carries an echo of space cleared or kept open: the sanctuary’s set-apart center is framed by a margin released from ordinary building.

ALSO GROWS

garash: Drive out; expel.

גָּרַשׁ

The root’s sense of clearing or sending away resonates with ground kept open around the sanctuary.

megorash: Driven out; expelled.

מְגֹרָשׁ

This related form conveys the result of the root’s action, echoing the open margin around the sacred place.

THE PATTERN

Set-apart space becomes visible through measured ground and a distinct boundary.

Command the children of Israel, that they give unto the Levites of the inheritance of their possession cities to dwell in; and ye shall give also unto the Levites suburbs for the cities round about them.

Numbers 35:2 · KJVThe open ground around the Levite cities is included in their design, just as the sanctuary’s margin is part of its measure.

He measured it by the four sides: it had a wall round about, five hundred reeds long, and five hundred broad, to make a separation between the sanctuary and the profane place.

Ezekiel 42:20 · KJVA measured boundary makes the distinction between the sanctuary and ordinary space visible.

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 measured, square form again gives a sacred place a distinct shape.

THE THREAD

And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.

Exodus 3:5 · KJV

“Holy” is ⁨קֹדֶשׁ⁩ (qodesh), from the same root as “sanctuary” in Ezekiel. Here, set-apartness is encountered as a place with a boundary; Ezekiel’s measured sanctuary gives that distinction an architectural form.

Read the SDV Bible.

Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.

Get Selah Verse

The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.

Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us