What Does Jeremiah 34:21 Mean?
And Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes I will give into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their living soul, and into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon, which has gone up from you.
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 Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes will I give into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of them that seek their life, and into the hand of the king of Babylon’s army, which are gone up from you.THE KEY
The repeated “into the hand” turns “I will give” into a transfer of reach: the lives being pursued are placed within the pursuers’ grasp.
THE MEANING
The threat is bodily and immediate: a person is placed within the reach of those who seek that person’s life. The repeated “into the hand” makes vulnerability a transfer of power, while Zedekiah’s name, “the LORD is righteousness”, stands beside the violence without functioning as a shield.
THE ROOT
אֶתֵּן
ʾetten
GROWS FROM
נתן
n-t-n
give, set, place
“give” in this verse is ʾetten. The Hebrew verb can carry the sense of giving, setting, or placing. Its repetition turns the verse into a sequence of handoffs: the people are placed within the reach of those who seek them.
ALSO GROWS
mattanah: gift, present
מַתָּנָה
This noun shows the same root in what is bestowed; here the verb places people under another power’s grasp.
netinah: giving, the act of giving
נְתִינָה
This noun keeps the act of giving visible as a transfer, matching the verse’s repeated handoff.
נַפְשָׁם
nafsham
GROWS FROM
נפש
n-p-sh
living self, person, life
“seek their living soul” in this verse is nafsham. The word reaches beyond an abstract inner “soul”: nephesh can name a person, a living being, or that person’s life. Those being sought are the living selves themselves.
ALSO GROWS
nephesh: living self, person, life
נֶפֶשׁ
This is the singular form behind “their life,” naming the living person who is being pursued.
naphash: refresh oneself, rest
נָפַשׁ
This related verb speaks of a living person being refreshed or rested; here that living self is what others seek.
צִדְקִיָּהוּ
Ṣidqiyyāhû
GROWS FROM
צדק
ṣ-d-q
rightness, justice, alignment
“Zedekiah” in this verse is Ṣidqiyyāhû. The name joins the LORD with tsedeq (צֶדֶק, rightness, justice, alignment): “the LORD is righteousness.” The sentence leaves that name beside the handoff, carrying its meaning into a scene of exposure rather than making it a shield.
ALSO GROWS
tsedeq: rightness, justice, alignment
צֶדֶק
This is the core word in the name, which stands beside the king’s exposure to his enemies.
tsedaqah: justice, righteousness, right action
צְדָקָה
This form extends the root’s sense of right relation, sharpening the tension between the name and the violence in the verse.
tsaddiq: a just or aligned person
צַדִּיק
This personal form shows how the root can describe someone; Zedekiah’s name carries that root as he is placed in enemy hands.
THE PATTERN
The image of a person being given into another’s hand makes vulnerability concrete as a transfer of reach and control.
And I will shut Egypt up into the hand of a hard lord, and a strong king will rule over them, says the Lord, the LORD of hosts.Then he came to his disciples and said to them, Sleep on now and rest. Look, the hour has drawn near, and the Son of Man is handed over into the hands of those who miss the mark.THE THREAD
And the LORD God shaped the ground-being, Adam, from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and Adam became a living soul.The word behind “their life” is נֶפֶשׁ (nephesh, living self or life), the same word translated “soul” in Genesis 2:7. Genesis calls the formed human a living nephesh; here, the pursuers seek the living selves themselves.
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