What Does Ezekiel 47:4 Mean in the King James?
Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through the waters; the waters were to the knees. Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through; the waters were to the loins.
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
What looks like rising water is also a sequence of crossings: each measured passage carries the speaker farther into it.
THE MEANING
Depth comes to you by measured passages: you are brought through water that first reaches your knees and then your loins. The change happens in the body’s own terms, each crossing carries you farther in, instead of dropping you all at once into the deep.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that a real crossing must happen all at once: here, depth becomes greater through measured stages.
THE ROOT
וַיַּעֲבִרֵנִי
wayyaʿăvîrēnî
GROWS FROM
עבר
ʿ-b-r
to cross, pass over or through, go beyond
“brought me through” in this verse is wayyaʿăvîrēnî. The verb here is causative: the guide makes the speaker pass through, so the repeated measures mark successive crossings, not just rising water. The root also holds the sense of crossing to the far side; the speaker enters the depth in stages.
ALSO GROWS
ʿāvar: to pass across, pass through, cross over
עָבַר
This basic verb makes the speaker’s movement an actual crossing through the water.
maʿavār: a crossing, passage, or ford
מַעֲבָר
This branch names the passage itself, echoing the repeated movement from one depth to the next.
ʿēver: the other side, beyond, across
עֵבֶר
The crossing carries a sense of movement toward what lies beyond the water’s present edge.
THE PATTERN
Water marks a threshold of depth: moving farther into it changes what the body can do.
Afterward he measured a thousand; and it was a river that I could not pass over: for the waters were risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed over.Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts: all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me.Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught.THE THREAD
When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.Isaiah uses the same root, עבר (ʿāvar, “to pass through”), for crossing the waters. Ezekiel shows that crossing deepening by stages; Isaiah speaks of presence through the passage, even when rivers and fire surround you.
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