What Does Ezra 4:15 Mean in the King James?
That search may be made in the book of the records of thy fathers: so shalt thou find in the book of the records, and know that this city is a rebellious city, and hurtful unto kings and provinces, and that they have moved sedition within the same of old time: for which cause was this city destroyed.
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 same root names both the city’s rebellion and the sedition attributed to it, turning repeated actions into the city’s defining identity.
THE MEANING
The verse shows a record being searched as evidence: the city is named rebellious, described as harmful to kings and provinces, and charged with persistent revolt. Its destruction is presented as the consequence of that case. The wording shows how an account of the past can carry an accusation into a present verdict.
THE ROOT
מָרָדָה
maradah
GROWS FROM
מרד
To rebel or revolt against authority.
The word rendered rebellious and the later word rendered sedition both come from מרד. English gives them separate labels, while the repeated root links the city’s description to the revolt attributed to its people, making the record’s accusation sound like a defining nature.
ALSO GROWS
marad: To rebel; to revolt.
מָרַד
The verbal form presents rebellion as an action, as in the verse’s claim that revolt is being carried out within the city.
mered: Rebellion; revolt.
מֶרֶד
This noun shares the root of the verse’s word for sedition, joining the two charges in one root family.
mored: A rebel; one who rebels.
מוֹרֵד
This form names the one who rebels, showing how an action from this root can become a label for a person or, in the verse, a city.
THE PATTERN
A written record carries past actions forward into present judgment or consequence.
On that night could not the king sleep, and he commanded to bring the book of records of the chronicles; and they were read before the king.A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.THE THREAD
And the LORD was with him; and he prospered whithersoever he went forth: and he rebelled against the king of Assyria, and served him not.The verb translated rebelled comes from the same root מרד as Ezra’s repeated charge. Here the root describes resistance to the king of Assyria in a verse that also says the LORD is with Hezekiah, showing that the root names revolt without by itself settling its moral meaning.
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