What Does Ezekiel 7:4 Mean in the King James?
And mine eye shall not spare thee, neither will I have pity: but I will recompense thy ways upon thee, and thine abominations shall be in the midst of thee: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
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 verse pictures judgment as the LORD placing your own path upon you, until its reality becomes impossible to stand apart from.
THE MEANING
You are addressed in a sentence where no sparing interrupts the judgment: your own way is placed upon you, and your abominations remain in your midst. The consequence meets you through the path you have walked. In that exposure, knowing the LORD is recognition under judgment, not reassurance.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It overturns the assurance that being seen by God means being spared: here the LORD sees without pity, and recognition comes through judgment.
THE ROOT
אֶתֵּן
ʾettēn
GROWS FROM
נתן
To give, set, or place.
The verb rendered “recompense” is built on נָתַן (natan), “give, set, place,” so the image is a way set upon its own bearer. The same root forms מַתָּנָה (mattanah), “gift,” and נְתִינִים (netinim), “those given or assigned”; the words around it give this placing its severe force.
ALSO GROWS
natan: Give, set, or place.
נָתַן
This is the verb in the verse: the speaker gives the person’s own way upon them.
mattanah: Gift or present.
מַתָּנָה
It shares the root’s core idea of what is given; here, the way itself is what the person receives.
netinim: Those given or assigned; temple servants.
נְתִינִים
This branch carries the sense of being placed in a role, echoing how the verse sets a person’s own way upon them.
דַּרְכֵּךְ
darkēkh
GROWS FROM
דרך
To tread; by extension, a path or course.
“ways” in this verse is darkēkh. The word for “way” echoes דָּרַךְ (dārak), “to tread”: it is the course actually walked. The verse places that course upon its walker, so judgment takes form as meeting the path itself.
ALSO GROWS
dārak: Tread, step, or march.
דָּרַךְ
It brings the “way” down to the steps taken along it.
derek: Way, road, or course.
דֶּרֶךְ
This is the path-word at the heart of the verse’s image: the person meets the course they have walked.
וִידַעְתֶּם
wîdaʿtem
GROWS FROM
ידע
To know or perceive through encounter.
Here “know” is not detached information; it is recognition of the LORD through what the verse exposes. The same root appears in דַּעַת (daʿat), “knowledge or perception,” and מֹדָע (mōdaʿ), “acquaintance or kinsman,” drawing knowing toward experienced recognition.
ALSO GROWS
daʿat: Knowledge or perception.
דַּעַת
It shows the root’s reach into perception, the recognition that closes this verse.
mōdaʿ: Acquaintance or kinsman.
מֹדָע
This branch connects knowing with personal recognition, echoing the verse’s encounter with who the LORD is.
THE PATTERN
A person’s own course returns as the consequence they meet.
Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.His mischief shall return upon his own head, and his violent dealing shall come down upon his own pate.Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.THE THREAD
Then shall ye remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall lothe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations.Both verses use דֶּרֶךְ (derek), “way” or “path”: here the way is set upon its bearer; there, that same way is remembered as one’s own, alongside one’s abominations. The repeated root makes the consequence an encounter with the course itself, carried within the person.
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