What Does Jeremiah 1:15 Mean?
For look, I am calling all the families of the kingdoms of the north, declares the LORD, and they shall come, and each shall set his throne at the opening of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all her walls, all around, and against all the cities of Judah.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
For, lo, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north, saith the LORD; and they shall come, and they shall set every one his throne at the entering of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all the walls thereof round about, and against all the cities of Judah.THE KEY
Each throne at the gate turns an approaching threat into a present claim to govern the city.
THE MEANING
The northern rulers come to set their thrones at Jerusalem’s gates, press against its walls, and target every city of Judah. You are shown danger crossing from the distant edge to the threshold and surrounding the whole civic landscape. The assault reaches the entrance, the defenses, and the surrounding cities at once.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the assumption that strong walls or guarded gates make a city unreachable: the invading rulers take position at the gates and press against the walls.
THE ROOT
וְנָתְנוּ
venatnu
GROWS FROM
נתן
n-t-n
To give, put, set, or place
“set” in this verse is venatnu. Natan carries both the sense of giving and of setting something in place: each ruler places a throne at the gate. The siege becomes an imposed seat of authority at the city’s entrance, before the verse names pressure against its walls and all the cities of Judah.
ALSO GROWS
natan: To give, put, or set
נָתַן
This root appears in the verse’s verb: each ruler sets his throne at Jerusalem’s gate.
mattanah: A gift, something given
מַתָּנָה
This branch carries the root’s sense of giving; here, what is placed at the threshold is a throne and a claim to rule.
צָפוֹן
tsafon
GROWS FROM
צפן
ts-p-n
To hide, conceal, or store away
The word for north is linked with a root meaning to hide or store away. The verse’s threat comes from beyond direct sight, then becomes visible as rulers taking their place at the gates.
ALSO GROWS
tsaphan: To hide, conceal, or treasure up
צָפַן
Its sense of concealment echoes the threat’s arrival from the distant northern direction.
tsafun: Hidden, concealed, or stored away
צָפוּן
This related form gives the north a sense of what lies out of sight until it presses against the city.
יְרוּשָׁלַיִם
Yerushalayim
GROWS FROM
שלם
sh-l-m
Wholeness, completeness
“Jerusalem” in this verse is Yerushalayim. Yerushalayim carries shalom, wholeness, in its name, with the dual ending. The verse places that named wholeness under direct assault at its gates and walls, as the threat closes around the surrounding cities too.
ALSO GROWS
shalom: Wholeness, completeness
שָׁלוֹם
The name’s link with shalom sharpens the force of the verse: the city associated with wholeness is under siege.
shalem: Whole, complete
שָׁלֵם
This branch shows the root’s sense of completeness, which the encircling assault puts under pressure.
THE PATTERN
A siege becomes total when a force takes position at the gates, presses the walls, and closes around the city.
And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his host, against Jerusalem, and pitched against it, and raised siege-works against it all around.In his right hand was the divination for Jerusalem, to set captains, to open the mouth in the slaughter, to lift the voice with the war cry, to set battering rams against the gates, to pour out a siege ramp, and to build a wall.For days will come upon you, when your enemies will drive stakes around you, and surround you, and press you in on every side.THE THREAD
Then the LORD said to me, Out of the north the evil shall be opened upon all who settle the land.The same word, tsafon, names the north as the source of what breaks forth. Verse 15 makes that threat visible as thrones at Jerusalem’s gates and pressure against its walls.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us