What Does Jeremiah 13:26 Mean?
So I will uncover your skirts upon your face, that your shame may be seen.
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
Therefore will I discover thy skirts upon thy face, that thy shame may appear.THE KEY
The covering becomes the instrument of exposure, turning concealment into the scene of humiliation.
THE MEANING
Here the image is one of forced exposure: a garment is drawn over the face while shame is made visible. The covering does not preserve privacy; it becomes part of the humiliation as what lies beneath is exposed.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that an outward covering guarantees privacy: here the covering is moved as part of the exposure.
THE ROOT
חָשַׂף
ḥāśap̄
GROWS FROM
חשף
To uncover, strip bare, or lay bare (ḥāśap̄).
The root חשף (ḥāśap̄, “uncover, lay bare”) names a physical uncovering here, where the garment is drawn over the face and shame becomes visible. Its forms describe both bare bodily exposure and the uncovering of forests. The English “discover” carries this concrete sense: what was hidden is brought into view by removing its covering.
ALSO GROWS
ḥăśûp̄ê: Uncovered, bare.
חֲשׂוּפֵי
In Isaiah 20:4 this form describes bodily exposure, showing the physical force of the same root in Jeremiah’s image.
wayyeḥĕśōp̄: And he uncovers.
וַיֶּחֱשֹׂף
Psalm 29:9 uses this form for uncovering forests; the same verb brings what was covered into sight.
וְנִרְאָה
wə-nirʾāh and it
GROWS FROM
ראה
To see, look, or perceive (rāʾāh).
The form וְנִרְאָה (wə-nirʾāh, “and it will be seen”) makes visibility the event: the shame becomes an object of sight. The root also gives words for seeing and appearance, joining what is exposed to the gaze that perceives it.
ALSO GROWS
marʾeh: Sight, appearance.
מַרְאֶה
This branch names what is available to be seen, echoing the verse’s movement from hidden shame to visibility.
rōʾeh: One who sees; a seer.
רֹאֶה
This branch names the perceiver, making clear that the verse’s exposure involves both what is revealed and the gaze before which it appears.
THE PATTERN
What is covered can be exposed, bringing what was hidden into view.
Your nakedness shall be uncovered, and your shame shall be seen. I will take vengeance, and I will not meet you as a man.For there is nothing covered that will not be uncovered, and nothing hidden that will not be known.And no creation is hidden before him, but all things are naked and bared at the throat to the eyes of him to whom our account belongs.THE THREAD
The voice of the LORD makes the hinds writhe in labor, and strips bare the forests; and in his temple everything says, "Weight."The Hebrew verb behind “discovereth” is חשף (ḥāśap̄, “uncover, lay bare”), the same root used in Jeremiah. The psalm applies it to forests; here it applies to clothing and shame, showing how the same act brings what was concealed fully into view.
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