What Does Ezra 8:23 Mean in the King James?

So we fasted and besought our God for this: and he was intreated of us.

Ezra 8:23 · KJV

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 Hebrew verb says God lets himself be entreated, giving the answer a personal and responsive shape.

THE MEANING

Here, fasting is embodied seeking: food is withheld while a need is brought before God. The verse describes God as one who receives the plea, not as an impersonal force to be worked upon. Petition and response stand together.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

This loosens the fear that asking vanishes into silence: the verse names God as one who is entreated.

THE ROOT

וַיֵּעָתֵר

vayyeʿater

GROWS FROM

עתר

ʿ-t-r

entreat, plead; in the Niphal, be entreated

“intreated” in this verse is vayyeʿater. The form here means “he was entreated.” The same root can describe pleading and being entreated, placing God’s response inside the language of the plea.

ALSO GROWS

vayyeʿtar: he pleaded or entreated

וַיֶּעְתַּר

This active form appears when Isaac pleads with the LORD in Genesis 25:21.

neʿtar: be entreated, have a plea received

נֶעְתַּר

This form shows the answering side of the same root, as in the LORD being entreated.

וַנְבַקְשָׁה

vanvaqqeshah

GROWS FROM

בקשׁ

b-q-sh

seek, ask, request

The verb for “besought” comes from a root that holds seeking and asking together. The plea is not only speech; it is a search directed toward God.

ALSO GROWS

mevaqqesh: one who seeks

מְבַקֵּשׁ

The seeker is named from the same root as the plea, joining the person seeking with the act of asking.

baqqashah: request, petition

בַּקָּשָׁה

A request is another branch of the seeking word used here.

וַנָּצוּמָה

vannatsumah

GROWS FROM

צום

ṣ-w-m

fast, abstain from food

“fasted” in this verse is vannatsumah. The root names abstaining from food, while its forms name both the act and the fast itself. In this sentence, bodily withholding sits alongside seeking, so the plea has a bodily expression.

ALSO GROWS

tsam: fasts or fasted

צָם

This verbal form names the act of fasting that the verse describes.

tsom: a fast

צוֹם

The noun names the practice that accompanies the seeking.

THE PATTERN

Fasting becomes a bodily form of turning or seeking when its direction is God rather than public display.

Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning:

Joel 2:12 · KJVFasting appears alongside a whole-hearted turning toward God.

And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes:

Daniel 9:3 · KJVSeeking, prayer, and fasting form one directed movement toward God.

But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.

Matthew 6:17-18 · KJVThe fast is oriented toward the Father rather than made into a public display.

THE THREAD

And Isaac intreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren: and the LORD was intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.

Genesis 25:21 · KJV

The same Hebrew root describes Isaac’s entreating and the LORD’s being entreated. Ezra’s wording echoes that pattern: the plea and God’s reception of it are joined in the language of one root.

Read the SDV Bible.

Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.

Get Selah Verse

The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.

Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us