What Does Ezekiel 48:17 Mean in the King James?
And the suburbs of the city shall be toward the north two hundred and fifty, and toward the south two hundred and fifty, and toward the east two hundred and fifty, and toward the west two hundred and fifty.
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 city’s open edge is not leftover space; it is measured into the city’s design on all four sides.
THE MEANING
This vision holds the city within a defined center, with an equal, measured tract beyond it in every direction. The open margin belongs to the city’s design; built space does not exhaust the meaning of a complete dwelling.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The unbuilt edge is not wasted space or an afterthought; it has a measured place in the city’s plan.
THE ROOT
מִגְרָשׁ
migrāš
GROWS FROM
גרש
The root גָּרַשׁ (gāraš) means “drive out, expel”; מִגְרָשׁ (migrāš) means the open common land around a town.
The KJV’s “suburbs” can suggest more built-up city, but מִגְרָשׁ points to open common ground around a town. Its word-family ties a defined outer margin to the action of driving out, making the measured tract part of the city’s order.
ALSO GROWS
gāraš: Drive out, expel.
גָּרַשׁ
This verb is used for Adam being driven from Eden in Genesis 3:24, where the root’s boundary-making force is stark.
gĕrûšāh: A woman put away from her husband; a divorced woman.
גְּרוּשָׁה
This branch carries separation from a former bond; beside this verse, it keeps the city’s open margin distinct from more built-up space.
THE PATTERN
A city’s design includes measured open land around its inhabited center.
And ye shall measure from without the city on the east side two thousand cubits, and on the south side two thousand cubits, and on the west side two thousand cubits, and on the north side two thousand cubits; and the city shall be in the midst: this shall be to them the suburbs of the cities.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.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.THE THREAD
So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.The verb גָּרַשׁ (gāraš, “drive out”) is used for Adam’s expulsion from Eden, and מִגְרָשׁ (migrāš, “open common land around a town”) shares its consonants. אָדָם (ʾādām, “the ground-being”) stands outside Eden there, while Ezekiel gives the city’s outer margin a measured place; the echo links separation and defined space without making their situations identical.
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