What Does Jeremiah 38:19 Mean?
Then Zedekiah the king said to Jeremiah, I fear the Jews who have fallen to the Chaldeans, lest they give me into their hand, and they mock me.
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 the king said unto Jeremiah, I am afraid of the Jews that are fallen to the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hand, and they mock me.THE KEY
The “deliver” Zedekiah fears is literally to be given or placed in another’s hand, where mockery follows.
THE MEANING
This verse names a fear that can be alive now: being placed under someone else’s power, then mocked. The threat reaches beyond what might be done to the body; it includes being made an object of contempt.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that fear of surrender is only fear of physical harm; anticipated humiliation is part of the danger itself.
THE ROOT
יִתְּנוּנִי
yittenuni
GROWS FROM
נתן
natan
to give, set, or place
The verb beneath “deliver” is נתן (natan), to give or place. Zedekiah imagines himself transferred into another’s hand, where ridicule follows.
ALSO GROWS
natan: to give, set, or place
נָתַן
The basic verb names the transfer Zedekiah fears: being placed in someone else’s power.
mattanah: gift, what is given
מַתָּנָה
The same root can name what is given as a gift; here the context makes the transfer a threat.
וְהִתְעַלְּלוּ־בִי
wehitʿallelu bi
GROWS FROM
עלל
ʿ-l-l
to act upon, deal wantonly with, or abuse
“mock me” in this verse is wehitʿallelu bi. This root can describe deeds and acts as well as abusive treatment. The threat is not only what others think of him, but what they may do to him once he is in their hands.
ALSO GROWS
maʿalal: deed, action
מַעֲלָל
The shared root presents mockery as an act carried out against someone, not merely a private opinion.
ʿalilah: deed, practice
עֲלִילָה
This branch also names conduct, reinforcing the active force of the treatment Zedekiah anticipates.
יָרֵא
yare
GROWS FROM
ירא
y-r-ʾ
to fear, stand in dread
The root appears in words for fear and awe. Here the feared ones are enemies, so the fear is sharpened by the concrete danger he names: being given over and then mocked.
ALSO GROWS
yirʾah: fear, awe
יִרְאָה
This noun gathers the same root’s sense of a response to something perceived as powerful.
noraʾ: fearsome, awe-inspiring
נוֹרָא
This related form shows how the root can describe what evokes dread; here that dread attaches to hostile human power.
THE PATTERN
Being handed over can expose a person to contempt as well as danger.
All who see me mock me; they open their lips, they shake the head.For he will be handed over to the nations, and will be played with, and handled with outrage, and spat upon.THE THREAD
But Jeremiah said, They shall not give you into their hand. Hear and respond, I beseech you, to the voice of the LORD, which I speak to you, and it will be good for you, and your living soul shall live.The Hebrew נתן (natan, give or place) returns in Jeremiah’s reply: the people will not give the king over. The same root that names Zedekiah’s feared transfer now answers it directly.
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