What Does Jeremiah 42:11 Mean?
Do not tremble before the king of Babylon, whose face makes you shake. Do not tremble before him, says the LORD, for I am with you to deliver you and snatch you from his hand.
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
Be not afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom ye are afraid; be not afraid of him, saith the LORD: for I am with you to save you, and to deliver you from his hand.THE KEY
The verse names the threat and the fear, then answers both with “I am with you”, a presence that promises to bring you out from under the threatening hand.
THE MEANING
Fear can be named honestly: the threat has a face and a hand that can hold you. The promise meets that fear with presence, “I am with you”, and deliverance that brings you out from under the hand. The verse speaks of companionship and rescue together.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The threatening hand is stronger than the presence that promises deliverance.
THE ROOT
לְהוֹשִׁיעַ
lehoshia
GROWS FROM
ישע
yasha
To deliver, bring out, or make room for escape.
“deliver” in this verse is lehoshia. The verb carries movement out of constriction into spaciousness. Its branch יְשׁוּעָה (yeshuah) names deliverance, so “save” here carries the sense of being brought out, not merely preserved in place.
ALSO GROWS
yeshuah: Deliverance; being brought out.
יְשׁוּעָה
This noun names the same movement promised by the verb in the verse.
moshia: One who delivers or brings out.
מוֹשִׁיעַ
The branch makes the promise personal: the deliverance comes from one who acts to bring you out.
תִּירְאוּ
tire'u
GROWS FROM
ירא
yare
To fear or stand in awe.
“do not tremble before” in this verse is tire'u. The same root appears first in “of whom ye are afraid” and again in “be not afraid.” The verse acknowledges the fear plainly, then speaks into that very fear rather than pretending the threat is absent.
ALSO GROWS
yirah: Fear or awe.
יִרְאָה
The noun names the felt response that the verse meets with the promise of presence.
yare: To fear or regard with awe.
יָרֵא
This verb is the seed of both the stated fear and the repeated “be not afraid.”
וּלְהַצִּיל
lehatzil
GROWS FROM
נצל
natsal
To rescue, snatch away, or escape from danger.
“snatch” in this verse is lehatzil. This root gives deliverance the feel of being pulled out of someone’s grasp. Beside “his hand,” it makes the promise concrete: the threatening hold does not have to be the final condition.
ALSO GROWS
hitsil: He rescued or delivered.
הִצִּיל
This verb form shows the active rescue promised in the verse.
nitsol: One rescued or delivered.
נִצּוֹל
This branch describes the person brought out of danger, the result of the promised action.
THE PATTERN
Presence meets fear by promising deliverance from the power that threatens to hold you.
Do not fear, for I am with you. Do not look about in dismay, for I am your God. I will grip you, and I will help you, and I will hold you up with the right hand of my alignment.I seek the LORD, and he answers me, and snatches me out of every place of dread.That he would give us, having been brought out from the hand of our enemies, to serve him without fear,THE THREAD
Look, God is my deliverance. I will lean my full weight and not tremble, for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song, and he has become my deliverance.Jeremiah’s “to save” and Isaiah’s “salvation” come from the Hebrew root ישע (yasha), the language of being brought out. Isaiah lets you hear the movement continue: deliverance makes room for trust and song where fear once stood.
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