What Does Jeremiah 43:5 Mean?
But Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the army, took all the remnant of Judah, the ones who had turned back from all the nations where they had been driven, to sojourn in the land of Judah.
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
But Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces, took all the remnant of Judah, that were returned from all nations, whither they had been driven, to dwell in the land of Judah;THE KEY
The remnant has returned from being driven away, yet the word “remnant” still carries the mark of what was lost.
THE MEANING
You can return to a place after being driven from it and still be caught up in someone else’s decisions. The people are named as a remnant even as they return to dwell in Judah. Their return does not erase the displacement that came before it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that returning automatically means the danger is over.
THE ROOT
שְׁאֵרִית
she’erit
GROWS FROM
שאר
To remain or be left over.
“Remnant” holds the sense of what remains after loss. The word keeps survival and what has been lost together, even when the people are back in the land.
ALSO GROWS
sha’ar: To remain or be left.
שָׁאַר
This verb carries the same surviving-after-loss sense contained in “remnant.”
she’ar: Remainder or what is left.
שְׁאָר
Isaiah uses this related form for “remnant,” showing the shared root beneath the English word.
נִדְּחוּ
niddeḥu
GROWS FROM
נדח
To drive away, thrust out, or banish.
The verse describes the people’s earlier movement as forceful displacement. Their return follows a being-driven-away; the Hebrew keeps that history in the line.
ALSO GROWS
niddeḥei Yisra’el: The outcasts of Israel.
נִדְּחֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל
Isaiah uses this form for people driven away, making exile sound like expulsion rather than ordinary travel.
niddach: One who is driven away or cast out.
נִדַּח
This form names the displaced person and echoes the condition of the people in this verse.
שָׁבוּ
shavu
GROWS FROM
שוב
To turn back or return.
“turned back” in this verse is shavu. The people’s return is expressed through the root for turning back. The movement home follows their being driven out, but the verb names a change of direction, not proof that all is restored.
ALSO GROWS
shuv: To turn back or return.
שׁוּב
This is the root verb behind the remnant’s return to Judah.
teshuvah: Return or turning back.
תְּשׁוּבָה
This related form makes the idea of return explicit as a turning back.
THE PATTERN
Being called a remnant marks survival after displacement, while return does not erase the fact of being driven.
The remnant will turn back, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God.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.So also now, in this present season, there is a remnant left behind, picked out by favor.THE THREAD
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.Both verses use שְׁאֵרִית (she’erit), meaning “remnant,” for the remnant of Judah. There it is described as left; here it is taken, so the shared word makes survival visible while the people remain in motion.
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