What Does Ezekiel 8:18 Mean in the King James?
Therefore will I also deal in fury: mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: and though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear 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 cry reaches God’s ears; what is withheld is response.
THE MEANING
This verse leaves you face to face with an unanswered cry: it reaches God’s ears, yet fury withholds sparing, pity, and response. The silence is not distance or failure of sound; it is stated refusal.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The false belief that a cry is answered simply because it is loud enough to reach God’s ears.
THE ROOT
שָׁמַע
shamaʿ
GROWS FROM
שמע
To hear, heed, or respond.
The verb translated “hear” is שָׁמַע (shamaʿ, hear and heed/respond), a word with room for responsive listening. The verse places a loud cry in God’s ears and then denies that response, so the silence is deliberate refusal rather than a failure of sound to arrive.
ALSO GROWS
shemaʿ: Hear; listen and attend.
שְׁמַע
The same root opens the Shema command, where hearing carries the sense of attending and responding.
shemuʿah: A report or tidings; something heard.
שְׁמוּעָה
This branch names what arrives by hearing, clarifying the distinction between a message reaching the ear and being heeded.
THE PATTERN
A plea’s volume does not secure a response; scripture places the cry beside the conduct it accompanies.
Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:Then shall they cry unto the LORD, but he will not hear them: he will even hide his face from them at that time, as they have behaved themselves ill in their doings.Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.THE THREAD
And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.Both verses use שָׁמַע (shamaʿ, hear or heed) for the withheld response: the cry is in God’s ears, yet he will not hear. Isaiah names blood-filled hands beside unanswered prayers, opening Ezekiel’s refusal as a response to what the plea arrives with.
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