What Does Jeremiah 10:10 Mean?
But the LORD God is truth, he is the living God and king of the ages. At his outburst the earth quakes, and the nations cannot hold his seething.
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
But the LORD is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation.THE KEY
The LORD is both the firm reality and the living presence whose anger no nation can withstand.
THE MEANING
The LORD is the true and living God, king across the ages. His anger shakes the earth, and nations cannot hold their place before his indignation.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It dissolves the belief that a nation’s power can make it immune to the judgment of the living God.
THE ROOT
אֱמֶת
ʾemet
GROWS FROM
א־מ־ן
ʾ-m-n
To be firm, steady, or reliable.
“truth” in this verse is ʾemet. Here, “true” carries the sense of what is firm and dependable, not only a claim that passes a fact check. Beside “living,” it describes a God who is both present and reliable.
ALSO GROWS
amen: Firm; truly; so be it.
אָמֵן
The response rests on what is dependable, not merely on words of agreement.
emunah: Trust; firmness; faithfulness.
אֱמוּנָה
Trust leans its full weight on the firmness this word for “true” names.
חַי
chay
GROWS FROM
ח־י־ה
ḥ-y-h
To live or be alive.
“living” in this verse is chay. The root holds “alive” and “life” together. Here, God’s life is visible in the force of his presence: the earth shakes and nations cannot withstand him.
ALSO GROWS
chayah: To live; remain alive.
חָיָה
The verb gives the root’s basic sense of living as an active condition.
chayyim: Life; living.
חַיִּים
The noun names the life that the description “living God” holds together with God’s presence.
עוֹלָם
ʿolam
GROWS FROM
ע־ל־ם
ʿ-l-m
To be hidden or beyond sight; עוֹלָם (ʿolam) names an age or span reaching beyond what is immediately seen.
“king of the ages” in this verse is ʿolam. The word translated “everlasting” is עוֹלָם (ʿolam), an age or ages. Its connection with concealment suggests a horizon beyond sight; calling the LORD king of עוֹלָם (ʿolam) places his rule across the ages.
ALSO GROWS
ʿalam: To hide or conceal.
עָלַם
It shares the root’s sense of what is out of view.
neʿelam: Hidden; out of sight.
נֶעְלָם
This branch makes the root’s image of what lies beyond immediate sight explicit.
THE PATTERN
The living God’s rule reaches beyond private belief: the earth trembles before him, and no nation can secure itself against his anger.
The LORD reigns; let the peoples tremble. He sits between the cherubim; let the earth sway.For the great day of their anger comes, and who is able to stand?And saying, Men, why are you doing these things? We too are humankind, of like suffering with you, and bringing you the good news that you should turn from these empty things to the living God, who made heaven and earth and the sea and all that is in them.THE THREAD
Before the mountains are born, and before you bring forth the earth and the inhabited world, from age to age you are God.Jeremiah’s “everlasting king” is מֶלֶךְ עוֹלָם (melekh ʿolam), king across the age or ages. Psalm 90:2 repeats עוֹלָם (ʿolam) at both ends, placing God’s rule before the earth’s formation and across the ages.
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