What Does Ezekiel 5:2 Mean in the King James?
Thou shalt burn with fire a third part in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled: and thou shalt take a third part, and smite about it with a knife: and a third part thou shalt scatter in the wind; and I will draw out a sword after them.
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 wind is no refuge: the sword follows the third that is scattered into it.
THE MEANING
The verse gives the three portions distinct fates: one burns inside the city, one is struck with a blade, and one is scattered into the wind. Even that scattered portion is pursued by the sword; distance brings no safety here.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Getting beyond the city does not mean the danger is over.
THE ROOT
תִּזְרֶה
tizreh
GROWS FROM
ז־ר־ה
z-r-h
To scatter or disperse; also to winnow by tossing grain into the air.
“scatter” in this verse is tizreh. The verb for scattering also describes winnowing: material is thrown into moving air so its parts separate. Here the wind carries a deliberate dispersal, and the next phrase makes clear that dispersal is not escape.
ALSO GROWS
mizreh: Winnowing fork
מִזְרֶה
The tool throws grain into the air to separate it, revealing the sifting quality within the word for scattering.
zoreh: One who winnows or scatters
זֹרֶה
This participle keeps the action active: the material is being cast out, not merely drifting away.
אָרִיק
ariq
GROWS FROM
ר־י־ק
r-y-q
To empty or empty out.
The English says “draw out,” while the Hebrew verb carries the sense of emptying: the sword is emptied from its sheath. It then follows the scattered portion, turning dispersal into continued pursuit.
ALSO GROWS
req: Empty, void, or in vain
רֵיק
This adjective preserves the root’s core sense of emptiness beneath the act of unsheathing.
meriqim: They were emptying
מְרִיקִים
In Genesis 42:35 this form describes sacks being emptied; the same root supplies the image behind drawing a sword out.
רוּחַ
ruach
GROWS FROM
ר־ו־ח
r-w-ch
Moving air: wind and breath.
The word translated “wind” is also the Hebrew word for breath. The same word that can name the air moving through a living body names the force into which this portion is scattered.
ALSO GROWS
ruachot: Winds
רוּחוֹת
The plural form names winds as forces that carry what is scattered.
ruach: Breath
רוּחַ
This is the same word in its breath sense, joining the verse’s dispersing wind to the language of breath.
THE PATTERN
Judgment separates a whole into portions and assigns each portion a distinct fate.
And it shall come to pass, if they say unto thee, Whither shall we go forth? then thou shalt tell them, Thus saith the LORD; Such as are for death, to death; and such as are for the sword, to the sword; and such as are for the famine, to the famine; and such as are for the captivity, to the captivity.For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth.Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.THE THREAD
And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you: and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste.Leviticus uses the same Hebrew roots for scattering and drawing out a sword that appear here. The repeated pairing makes the sequence unmistakable: dispersion is followed by the sword.
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