What Does Jeremiah 13:22 Mean?
And if you say in your heart, Why have these things met me? For the abundance of your crookedness, your skirts are uncovered, and your heels are violated.
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
And if thou say in thine heart, Wherefore come these things upon me? For the greatness of thine iniquity are thy skirts discovered, and thy heels made bare.THE KEY
The Hebrew word behind “made bare” belongs to the language of violence, giving the exposure the force of violation.
THE MEANING
When the reader asks, “Wherefore come these things upon me?” the verse answers that great crookedness is joined to exposure: the skirts are discovered and the heels laid bare. The final Hebrew verb carries the language of violence, making this bodily exposure humiliating harm.
THE ROOT
נֶחְמְסוּ
neḥmesu
GROWS FROM
חמס
To act violently, inflict wrong, or violate.
“violated” in this verse is neḥmesu. The English phrase made bare gives an image of exposure; the Hebrew verb also carries the force of suffering violence. The heels are exposed through a word that makes the body’s humiliation harmful.
ALSO GROWS
ḥāmās: Violence, wrongdoing, or injury.
חָמָס
This noun shares the root consonants and names the violent force carried by the verb rendered made bare.
ḥāmas: To act violently or violate.
חָמַס
This verbal form shows the root’s force; the verse’s passive form depicts the heels as bearing it.
נִגְלוּ
niglu
GROWS FROM
גלה
To uncover, expose, or reveal.
“uncovered” in this verse is niglu. Discovered can sound like finding information, while גלה describes uncovering what was covered. Here the object is the skirts, so revelation takes the physical form of exposure.
ALSO GROWS
gālāh: To uncover or reveal.
גָּלָה
This verb shares the root consonants and names the action expressed by the verse’s form.
megallēh: Uncovering or revealing.
מְגַלֶּה
This form preserves the same root consonants and extends the image of bringing what is covered into view.
nigleh: Uncovered, revealed, or made visible.
נִגְלֶה
This related form shows the exposed state that follows the act of uncovering.
THE PATTERN
What is covered can be brought into view, and concealment does not keep it hidden forever.
Hatred is covered with deceit; his harm is uncovered at the appointed time in the assembly.For there is nothing covered that will not be uncovered, and nothing hidden that will not be known.THE THREAD
So I will uncover your skirts upon your face, that your shame may be seen.Jeremiah 13:26 repeats גלה (galah, uncover or reveal) with the skirts themselves as its object. The shared root links this verse’s exposure to the continuing image of uncovered clothing and shame.
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