What Does Jeremiah 47:4 Mean?
Because of the day that comes to ravage all the Philistines, to cut off from Tyre and Sidon every helper that remains, for the LORD ravages the Philistines, the remnant of the coastland of Caphtor.
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
Because of the day that cometh to spoil all the Philistines, and to cut off from Tyrus and Zidon every helper that remaineth: for the LORD will spoil the Philistines, the remnant of the country of Caphtor.THE KEY
The devastation reaches beyond its target to sever the network of help surrounding it.
THE MEANING
This verse shows devastation spreading through a support system: the Philistines are spoiled, and the surviving aid associated with Tyre and Sidon is cut off. A community is left exposed when the blow reaches both the people under attack and the help that might sustain them.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that harm stops at its first target dissolves here: devastation can also sever the support around it.
THE ROOT
לְהַכְרִית
lehakhrit
GROWS FROM
כרת
k-r-t
to cut, sever, or cut down
“cut off” in this verse is lehakhrit. The root also appears in the phrase כָּרַת בְּרִית (kārat berit, cut a covenant), where cutting names the making of a binding relation. Here the same root turns toward severance: the blow reaches the ties of aid that might have sustained the Philistines.
ALSO GROWS
kārat: to cut, cut down, or cut off
כָּרַת
This is the basic verb behind the verse’s decisive severing.
likhrot berit: to cut a covenant
לִכְרֹת בְּרִית
The same root can describe a binding between parties, making its use here resonate with the ties that are being cut away.
nikhrat: to be cut off
נִכְרַת
This form shows the same root from the side of what is removed or brought to an end.
עֵזֶר
ʿēzer
GROWS FROM
עזר
ʿ-z-r
to help, support, or come to someone’s aid
“helper” in this verse is ʿēzer. עֵזֶר (ʿēzer, aid or help) can name decisive support, not merely a subordinate assistant; the same word is also used for help attributed to God. The loss named here is the removal of a sustaining resource, not just the disappearance of an extra hand.
ALSO GROWS
ʿāzar: to help, support, or come to someone’s aid
עָזַר
The verb makes clear that this root describes the act of providing support.
ʿezrāh: help or aid
עֶזְרָה
This related noun appears in descriptions of present help, showing how substantial the support named by this word family can be.
THE PATTERN
A people’s stability turns on the source of the help they depend on and whether it remains available.
Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who lean upon horses and lean their full weight upon chariots, because they are many, and upon horsemen, because they have grown very strong. They do not look to the Set-Apart One of Israel, nor seek the LORD!My help comes from the LORD, who makes heavens and earth.So that we may boldly say, The LORD is my helper, and I will not fear. What will a human do to me?THE THREAD
My help comes from the LORD, who makes heavens and earth.Jeremiah uses עֵזֶר (ʿēzer, aid or help) for the support being cut off; Psalm 121 uses the same word for help coming from the LORD. The shared word holds both the vulnerability of political support and the psalm’s claim that help can come from beyond it.
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