What Does Ezekiel 46:1 Mean in the King James?
Thus saith the Lord GOD; The gate of the inner court that looketh toward the east shall be shut the six working days; but on the sabbath it shall be opened, and in the day of the new moon it shall be opened.
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 gate’s opening is tied to two kinds of renewal: the weekly pause of Sabbath and the arrival of the new moon.
THE MEANING
The inner gate stays closed through six working days, then opens on the Sabbath and at the new moon. The verse places access within a rhythm of work, cessation, and renewal. Its closure is temporary; the opening belongs to the same pattern.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a closed threshold means permanent exclusion: here, closure is part of a rhythm that also includes opening.
THE ROOT
יִפָּתֵחַ
yippāteaḥ
GROWS FROM
פתח
Open, unfasten
The verb for being opened shares its root with a Hebrew noun for an entrance or opening. The action and the threshold belong to one word-family: opening is what makes entrance possible.
ALSO GROWS
pātaḥ: Open, unfasten
פָּתַח
This verb names the action that changes the gate from closed to open.
pétaḥ: Entrance, opening
פֶּתַח
The related noun names the passage created by opening, connecting the verb to access.
חֹדֶשׁ
ḥōdeš
GROWS FROM
חדש
Be new, renew
The word for the new moon shares its root with words for what is new and what is renewed. The gate opens not only at the weekly pause but also at the arrival of a new cycle.
ALSO GROWS
ḥādāš: New
חָדָשׁ
This adjective shares the root and names the newness carried by the moon’s monthly return.
ḥaddēš: Renew, make new
חַדֵּשׁ
This verb form appears in Psalm 51:10, linking the new moon’s cycle with renewal within.
שַׁבָּת
shabbāt
GROWS FROM
שבת
Cease, stop
Sabbath carries the sense of stopping or ceasing. In this verse, the gate opens as the six-day pattern of work gives way to cessation.
ALSO GROWS
shāvat: Cease, stop
שָׁבַת
The verb names the cessation that marks the Sabbath opening.
shabbātōn: Sabbath rest, complete rest
שַׁבָּתוֹן
This related word emphasizes rest as a distinct span within the cycle of work.
THE PATTERN
Scripture portrays an opening threshold as a change in access to the sacred.
And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD.Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will go into them, and I will praise the LORD:I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.THE THREAD
Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.The Hebrew word for “new moon,” חֹדֶשׁ (ḥōdeš), and the verb translated “renew,” חַדֵּשׁ (ḥaddēš), share the root חדש, carrying the sense of newness and renewal. The cycle that marks the gate’s opening also names the renewal asked for within.
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