What Does Ezekiel 5:4 Mean in the King James?
Then take of them again, and cast them into the midst of the fire, and burn them in the fire; for thereof shall a fire come forth into all the house of Israel.
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 fire is not only what consumes the remnant; it becomes what goes out from it into the whole house.
THE MEANING
You see the remaining portion taken again, cast into the fire, and burned; from that burning, fire goes out into the whole house of Israel. The flame reaches beyond what is first thrown into it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that damage confined to a small remnant must remain confined is undone: here, fire from that portion reaches the whole house.
THE ROOT
תֵצֵא
tetse
GROWS FROM
יצא
yatsa
Go out, emerge, come forth.
“come” in this verse is tetse. The Hebrew verb pictures the fire going out from its source and extending into the house. Its word family includes departure and outlet, so the fire is not merely present; it has an origin and a direction of spread.
ALSO GROWS
yetsi'ah: Going out, departure.
יְצִיאָה
The same root frames the fire’s movement as an exit from where it begins.
motsa: Outlet, source; a place or point of going out.
מוֹצָא
This branch makes the source-to-outward movement in the verse visible.
וְשָׂרַפְתָּ
vesarafta
GROWS FROM
שרף
saraf
Burn, consume by fire.
“burn” in this verse is vesarafta. The verb belongs to the same root family as the name for the seraphim, the fiery ones. Here that family keeps its severe force: the portion cast in is consumed, and the fire then goes outward.
ALSO GROWS
srefah: Burning, conflagration.
שְׂרֵפָה
This noun names the consuming event enacted by the verb in the verse.
serafim: Seraphim; fiery ones.
שְׂרָפִים
The same root carries the image of fire in the name of these beings, linking burning with the identity of what burns.
THE PATTERN
A fire that begins in one place can carry its effects outward until it reaches a whole body or community.
And when the people complained, it displeased the LORD: and the LORD heard it; and his anger was kindled; and the fire of the LORD burnt among them, and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp.Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!THE THREAD
And there came a fire out from before the LORD, and consumed upon the altar the burnt offering and the fat: which when all the people saw, they shouted, and fell on their faces.Both verses use יצא (yatsa, “go out”) for the fire’s movement: in Ezekiel it goes out from what burns into the whole house, and in Leviticus it goes out from before the LORD toward the altar. The shared verb presents fire as movement from a source into what it reaches.
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