Ezekiel 37:20

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

The sticks whereon you write shall be in your hand before their eyes.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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תִּכְתֹּ֧ב

kâthab

H3789

“to write”

Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 2nd Person, Masculine, Singular

Appears 227× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Exodus 17:14

Full BDB Definition

Origin: a primitive root

TWOT: 1053

to write, record, enroll - (Qal) - to write, inscribe, engrave, write in, write on - to write down, describe in writing - to register, enroll, record - to decree - (Niphal) - to be written - to be written down, be recorded, be enrolled - (Piel) to continue writing

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

7: words
7: distinct lemmas
Prophets: section

Grammatical profile

2 verbs
3 nouns
1 preposition
1 particle

Verb forms

וְהָי֨וּ Qal · Sequential Perfect
תִּכְתֹּ֧ב Qal · Imperfect

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 13 words from the Hebrew and 16 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Ezekiel 37:20 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Ezekiel 12:3 Therefore, you son of man, prepare you stuff for removing, and remove by day in their sight; and you shall remove from your place to another place in their sight: it may be they will consider, though they are a rebellious house.
Numbers 17:6–9 Moses spoke to the children of Israel; and all their princes gave him rods, for each prince one, according to their fathers' houses, even twelve rods: and the rod of Aaron was among their rods.
Hosea 12:10 I have also spoken to the prophets, And I have multiplied visions; And by the ministry of the prophets I have used parables.

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Ezekiel 37:20 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וְהָי֨וּ הָעֵצִ֜ים אֲֽשֶׁר תִּכְתֹּ֧ב עֲלֵיהֶ֛ם בְּיָדְךָ֖ לְעֵינֵיהֶֽם

The sticks whereon you write shall be in your hand before their eyes.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Ezekiel 37:20 Septuagint · lemma form

καί εἰμί ὁ ῥάβδος ἐπί ὅς σύ γράφω ἐπί αὐτός ἐν ὁ χείρ σύ ἐνώπιον αὐτός

And the rods on which you did write shall be in your hand in their presence.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

Targum Jonathan Prophets (Joshua–Malachi)

וִיהוֹן לוּחַיָא דִי תִכְתּוֹב עֲלֵיהוֹן בִּידָךְ לְעֵינֵיהוֹן:

(no public-domain English translation for this verse)

Targum Jonathan — Aramaic: “Mikraot Gedolot” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “London "Chaldee Paraphrase," 1871” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on Ezekiel 37:20 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

Eze 37:20 And the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thine hand before their eyes.

Ver. 20. Shall be in thine hand before their eyes.] That by this vision publicly acted they may be the better affected.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Tyndale Open Study Notes

Tyndale Open Resources

37:20-25 When the kingdoms were reunited, the problems that had led to the schism would also be resolved. In place of the abusive and unfaithful leadership of Rehoboam that had split the nation in two (1 Kgs 12), God would supply a single servant leader, a shepherd king. Like David, he would unite the tribes. This restored people would also be renewed and cleansed from their idols and vile images so that the Lord might once again be their God. Thus purified, they would keep the Lord’s decrees and live there forever.

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(20) Before their eyes.—The symbolical action was not only to be performed before the people, but the united wood was to remain in the prophet’s hand, while he unfolded to them the Divine promise. That promise is essentially a repetition of Eze_34:11-31; Eze_36:22-30.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

20. This symbolical action may have been actually performed, though the supposition is scarcely necessary, cf. Eze_12:3.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Gill's Exposition

And the sticks whereon thou writest,.... Or art about to write the above things, according to order and direction:

shall be in thine hand before their eyes; shall be held up to them to look at for some time, and observe the cement of the two sticks; and learn and lay up in their minds what is meant by this emblem; and be assured that what is hereafter said as a further explication of it shall certainly be fulfilled.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations

To affect them the more, and to assure them the more fully, let them see these two divided sticks made one in thy hand.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Ezekiel, in the Prophets, opens this verse with 7 words (7 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is kâthab (“to write”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

How does “to write” (kâthab) shape what this verse is saying?
How does Ezekiel 12:3, which shares this passage’s theme, read alongside this verse?
These translations render this verse differently. What is at stake in choosing one wording over another?
«וְהָי֨וּ» is a Qal Sequential Perfect verb. How does that grammatical form shape the action described?
Compare how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Tyndale Open Study Notes read this verse. Where do they agree or differ?

Things to notice

These translations choose different wording for 9 words in this verse.
7 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 7 words in this verse.