What Does Jeremiah 31:39 Mean?
The measuring cord shall yet go out, facing it, upon the hill Gareb, and shall circle around to Goah.
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 the measuring line shall yet go forth over against it upon the hill Gareb, and shall compass about to Goath.THE KEY
Restoration becomes visible as a line that moves outward and then closes around a place.
THE MEANING
A line reaches across the hill and circles toward another landmark. Restoration takes shape as measurable ground, with an extent and an edge. The verse gives wholeness a visible outline.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the idea that restoration is too vague to touch: here, the line marks its reach on the ground.
THE ROOT
מִדָּה
middāh
GROWS FROM
מדד
m-d-d
To measure; to determine an extent.
“measuring” in this verse is middāh. The measure gives the line a purpose: it marks the extent of a place that can be inhabited. The verse’s surrounding line completes that measure, making restoration a defined space rather than an abstract promise.
ALSO GROWS
madad: To measure or measure out.
מָדַד
This verb names the act behind the measured extent in the verse.
mad: A garment or attire, something measured to fit.
מַד
This branch gives the root a concrete form: measured extent can take shape around a body.
וְנָסַב
venāsav
GROWS FROM
סבב
s-b-b
To turn about, circle, or surround.
“circle around” in this verse is venāsav. The line does more than reach a landmark; it turns around and contains a space. Its movement gives the measured place a boundary.
ALSO GROWS
sabab: To turn, circle, or surround.
סָבַב
This verb carries the circular movement of the line around the place.
saviv: Around or all about.
סָבִיב
This related form names the space held on every side by the encircling line.
THE PATTERN
Scripture renders restoration as a place whose extent is measured and whose boundary can be seen.
Then I said, Where are you going? And he said to me, To measure Jerusalem, to see how wide it is and how long it is.And he brought me there, and behold, a man whose look was like the look of bronze, with a cord of flax in his hand and a measuring reed, and he stood in the gate.And the one who speaks with me holds a golden reed to measure the city, and its gates, and its wall.THE THREAD
Then I said, Where are you going? And he said to me, To measure Jerusalem, to see how wide it is and how long it is.Both verses draw on מָדַד (madad, to measure): Jeremiah’s line marks the city’s perimeter, while Zechariah names its breadth and length. The shared root turns the line into a way of seeing the place’s full extent.
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