What Does Jeremiah 40:11 Mean?
Likewise, when all the Jews who were in Moab, among the Ammonites, in Edom, and in all the lands heard that the king of Babylon had given a remnant to Judah, and that he had set Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, over them.
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
Likewise when all the Jews that were in Moab, and among the Ammonites, and in Edom, and that were in all the countries, heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant of Judah, and that he had set over them Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan;THE KEY
What the KJV calls what Babylon “left,” the Hebrew also calls what it “gave”: the remnant is both survival and placement.
THE MEANING
Even when people are scattered across many places, the news that some remain reaches them and keeps their shared story alive. The remnant is a people still named and placed in Judah, with a leader set over them.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse overturns the belief that once a people is scattered, it becomes invisible and disconnected.
THE ROOT
נָתַן
natan
GROWS FROM
נתן
natan
give, set, place
The KJV’s “left” names the surviving result; the Hebrew verb נתן (natan, “give, set, place”) also carries the act that puts the remnant in Judah. The verse holds survival and placement together: those who remain are also given a place.
ALSO GROWS
mattanah: gift
מַתָּנָה
The shared root makes the remnant’s continued presence sound like something given.
nittan: was given
נִתַּן
This form keeps the focus on something placed or given, as the verse does with the remnant in Judah.
שְׁאֵרִית
she'erit
GROWS FROM
שאר
sha'ar
remain, be left over
The root שאר (sha’ar, “remain, be left over”) names what continues after loss. “Remnant” here is not an abstract trace but an identifiable people, whose continued presence becomes news to those living elsewhere.
ALSO GROWS
she'ar: remainder
שְׁאָר
It shows the same root directly naming what remains.
nish'ar: remains, is left
נִשְׁאַר
This verbal form makes the root’s central action explicit: someone or something continues to be there.
גְּדַלְיָהוּ
Gedalyahu
GROWS FROM
גדל
gadal
grow, become great
Gedaliah’s name joins גדל (gadal, “grow, become great”) with יָהוּ (Yahu, the divine name element), yielding “Yah is great” or “Yah has made great.” The person set over the remnant bears a name that places Yah’s greatness beside the appointment.
ALSO GROWS
gadal: grow, become great
גָּדַל
This is the verb root carried in Gedaliah’s name.
gadol: great
גָּדוֹל
This adjective makes the greatness in the name’s root audible.
THE PATTERN
A surviving remnant keeps a people’s story open, preserving continuity after loss.
And it will come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, and the escape of the house of Jacob, will no longer keep leaning their full weight upon the one who struck them, but they will lean their full weight upon the LORD, the Set-Apart One of Israel, in truth."Yet I have left seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not knelt to Baal, and every mouth which has not kissed him."So also now, in this present season, there is a remnant left behind, picked out by favor.THE THREAD
I will surely gather you, Jacob, all of you. I will surely gather the remnant of Israel. I will set them together like sheep of Bozrah, like a flock in the midst of its fold. They shall roar with the crowd of humankind.Both verses use שְׁאֵרִית (she’erit, “remnant”), from שאר (sha’ar, “remain, be left over”). Jeremiah’s report reaches people living elsewhere; Micah places that same remnant within an act of gathering.
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