What Does Jeremiah 20:11 Mean?
But the LORD is with me like a mighty and fierce warrior; therefore my pursuers shall stumble, and they shall not prevail. They shall be greatly ashamed, for they shall not prosper; their shame of the ages shall never be forgotten.
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 with me as a mighty terrible one: therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail: they shall be greatly ashamed; for they shall not prosper: their everlasting confusion shall never be forgotten.THE KEY
The force standing beside the pursued is so formidable that the pursuers lose the ground beneath their pursuit.
THE MEANING
Now, when you are under pursuit, the LORD is with you as a mighty, formidable presence; those pressing against you do not hold the outcome. They stumble, fail to prevail, and meet a disgrace that is not forgotten.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that being pursued means being abandoned, and that the pursuer’s power decides how the story ends.
THE ROOT
גִּבּוֹר
gibbôr
GROWS FROM
גבר
g-b-r
To grow strong, be mighty, or prevail.
“a mighty and fierce warrior” in this verse is gibbôr. The LORD is named as a gibbôr, a mighty one; the adjacent עָרִיץ (ʿārîṣ, formidable one) makes that strength fearsome to the pursuers. The verse sets this formidable presence beside the pursuers’ failure, turning the apparent imbalance of power around.
ALSO GROWS
gābar: Be strong; prevail.
גָּבַר
The root’s language of prevailing gives the LORD’s might an active force in the scene.
gever: A man or adult male.
גֶּבֶר
This related form shows the root’s connection to strength expressed in a person.
יִכָּשְׁלוּ
yikkāshəlū
GROWS FROM
כשל
k-sh-l
To totter, stumble, or fail.
“shall stumble” in this verse is yikkāshəlū. The pursuers’ defeat appears as a loss of footing. The root can also name the obstacle that trips someone, so their own forward motion becomes the path to their fall.
ALSO GROWS
mikshōl: A stumbling block or obstacle.
מִכְשׁוֹל
The same root names what makes someone lose their footing, illuminating how the pursuers’ force gives way.
kishshālōn: A stumble or downfall.
כִּשָּׁלוֹן
This branch carries the root’s movement from instability into failure.
כְּלִמַּת
kelimmat
GROWS FROM
כלם
k-l-m
To shame, humiliate, or disgrace.
“shame” in this verse is kelimmat. The Hebrew word carries disgrace and humiliation, giving “confusion” the feel of exposed dishonor as well as bewilderment. The phrase continues with עוֹלָם (ʿolām, age or ages), extending that disgrace across a long horizon; it is not forgotten.
ALSO GROWS
kelimmāh: Shame or disgrace.
כְּלִמָּה
This related form makes the humiliation beneath “confusion” visible.
hikhlim: To shame or humiliate.
הִכְלִים
The verbal form shows disgrace as something done to a person, matching the pursuers’ public reversal.
THE PATTERN
The presence of God with the threatened makes the attackers’ apparent advantage give way.
When evildoers, those who press me narrow and my foes, drew near against me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell.No weapon shaped against you will push through, and every tongue that rises against you in judgment you will condemn. This is the portion of the servants of the LORD, and their alignment is from me, declares the LORD.What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?THE THREAD
When evildoers, those who press me narrow and my foes, drew near against me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell.“Stumbled” in both verses comes from the Hebrew root כשל (k-sh-l), meaning to totter, stumble, or fail. The shared root reveals the same image: the pursuer’s advance loses its footing.
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