What Does Ezekiel 48:31 Mean in the King James?
And the gates of the city shall be after the names of the tribes of Israel: three gates northward; one gate of Reuben, one gate of Judah, one gate of Levi.
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 makes belonging part of its architecture: its entrances carry the names of its tribes.
THE MEANING
The city’s gates bear the tribes’ names, making belonging visible at the point of entry. Reuben, Judah, and Levi each have a distinct gate, so shared life in the city preserves the people’s distinct identities.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Belonging to a shared whole requires people to become indistinguishable.
THE ROOT
שִׁבְטֵי
shivṭê
GROWS FROM
שבט
Rod or staff; also tribe or tribal group.
“tribes” in this verse is shivṭê. The Hebrew word for “tribe” shares its root with the word for a rod or scepter. Here, the tribal names are built into the city’s entrances, linking each people’s identity to the city’s structure.
ALSO GROWS
shevet: Rod, staff, or scepter.
שֵׁבֶט
This is the same Hebrew word family as “tribes”; Genesis uses it for Judah’s scepter, linking tribal identity with rule.
shivṭim: Tribes; the plural form of שֵׁבֶט.
שִׁבְטִים
It makes explicit that the people named at the gates belong to distinct tribal groups within one city.
THE PATTERN
A city of belonging makes its entrances express who belongs and what the city embodies.
Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders; but thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise.The LORD loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel:THE THREAD
The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.The Hebrew word translated “sceptre” is שֵׁבֶט (shevet), from the same root as “tribes” in this verse. Judah’s gate thus carries a name from the same word family that speaks of both tribal identity and the scepter.
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