What Does Ezekiel 46:10 Mean in the King James?

And the prince in the midst of them, when they go in, shall go in; and when they go forth, shall go forth.

Ezekiel 46:10 · 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.

THE KEY

The prince’s elevated title does not place him outside the people: their entrances and departures are his too.

THE MEANING

The one who holds the highest place is among the people, sharing their passage in and out. His place is bound to theirs as they enter and leave.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

This undoes the belief that authority must stand apart from the people it leads.

THE ROOT

נָשִׂיא

nāśîʾ

GROWS FROM

נ-שׂ-א

n-ś-ʾ

Lift, carry, bear.

The word for prince comes from a word-family of lifting and carrying. Here the one who is elevated remains “in their midst,” and his movements match theirs: rank does not remove him from shared passage.

ALSO GROWS

nāśāʾ: To lift, carry, or bear.

נָשָׂא

This verb shows the root’s range beneath the title: elevation and carrying belong to the same word-family.

maśśāʾ: A burden or load; something borne.

מַשָּׂא

It shows the same root extending from the lifted one to what is carried, a connection made concrete in Numbers 11:17.

THE PATTERN

Presence that belongs with a people accompanies them through their entrances and departures.

And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.

Exodus 33:14 · KJVThe promise of presence is expressed as going with the person through the journey.

Wherefore of these men which have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us,

Acts 1:21 · KJVJesus’ going in and out among the people echoes a leader whose movement is shared with them.

I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.

John 10:9 · KJVThe image holds entry and departure together as a shared path into provision.

THE THREAD

And I will come down and talk with thee there: and I will take of the spirit which is upon thee, and will put it upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with thee, that thou bear it not thyself alone.

Numbers 11:17 · KJV

The Hebrew root ⁨נ-שׂ-א⁩ (n-ś-ʾ), meaning “lift, carry, bear,” underlies both “prince” in Ezekiel and “bear the burden” here. Numbers makes the carrying explicit: leadership is shared with the people, which opens Ezekiel’s prince among them in a new light.

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