What Does Ezra 7:27 Mean in the King James?
Blessed be the LORD God of our fathers, which hath put such a thing as this in the king’s heart, to beautify the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem:
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 LORD begins beautifying the house by placing its beauty as a purpose inside the king.
THE MEANING
The LORD is worthy of blessing as the one who places a purpose in a human heart and carries it outward into the care of what is set apart. The impulse to beautify what belongs to the LORD is already part of the gift; visible work begins inwardly.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that restoration depends only on the people closest to the work; the purpose can be placed even in a king’s heart.
THE ROOT
נָתַן
natan
GROWS FROM
נתן
Give, place, set.
The KJV’s “put” carries the movement of giving: the purpose is placed within the king as a gift. The same root forms words for “gift,” so the king’s inward impulse is itself part of what is given before the house is adorned.
ALSO GROWS
mattan: Gift.
מַתָּן
The purpose placed in the king’s heart is presented as something given, before it becomes visible work.
mattanah: Gift.
מַתָּנָה
This related form keeps the verse’s emphasis on the king’s purpose as something received.
לְפָאֵר
lefa’er
GROWS FROM
פאר
Adorn, beautify, bring honor.
“beautify” in this verse is lefa’er. This verb belongs to the same word family as both adornment and glory, so beautifying the house means more than making it attractive: its visible splendor carries honor. The purpose placed within the king becomes adornment for the house of the LORD.
ALSO GROWS
pe’er: An ornament or headdress.
פְּאֵר
This branch shows the root’s concrete sense of adornment, echoed in the house being beautified.
tif’eret: Beauty or glory.
תִּפְאֶרֶת
It joins the house’s beauty to the honor made visible through its adornment.
THE PATTERN
The LORD moves sacred work outward by placing its purpose within human hearts.
And he hath put in his heart that he may teach, both he, and Aholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan.But thanks be to God, which put the same earnest care into the heart of Titus for you.For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.THE THREAD
And I arose in the night, I and some few men with me; neither told I any man what my God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem: neither was there any beast with me, save the beast that I rode upon.Nehemiah 2:12 uses the same root נתן (natan, give or place) for what God put in a heart, and it names Jerusalem as the place of the work. Ezra’s verse reveals the inward placement; Nehemiah’s shows that placed purpose unfolding toward Jerusalem.
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