What Does Jeremiah 48:23 Mean?
And upon Kiriathaim, and upon Beth-gamul, and upon Beth-meon,
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 upon Kiriathaim, and upon Beth-gamul, and upon Beth-meon,THE KEY
The repeated “upon” names its reach down to a city and two houses, one even called the house of recompense.
THE MEANING
The line places Kiriathaim (קִרְיָתַיִם, qiryātayim, “two towns”), Beth-gamul (בֵּית גָּמוּל, Bēt-Gāmûl, “house of recompense”), and Beth-meon (בֵּית מָעוֹן, Bēt-Māʿōn, “house of dwelling”) under the same repeated “upon.” The naming makes the reach concrete: a city and two houses stand inside the sentence, rather than an unnamed landscape. This line gives no charge; its force is the places’ direct inclusion.
THE ROOT
גָּמוּל
gāmûl
GROWS FROM
גמל
g-m-l
To deal fully with or requite; in other forms, to wean.
“Gamul” in this verse is gāmûl. The name בֵּית גָּמוּל (Bēt-Gāmûl, “house of recompense”) embeds the idea of requital in the place-name itself. The shared seed carries both what is dealt back and the act of bringing something through to completion.
ALSO GROWS
gemul: Recompense or reward; treatment returned.
גְּמוּל
This branch makes the “recompense” in Beth-gamul a root-level connection, not just an English gloss.
gāmal: To deal with someone fully or requite; in another use, to wean a child.
גָּמַל
The same root joins requital with bringing a child through to a new stage, giving the name a range beyond simple repayment.
בֵּית
bēt
GROWS FROM
בית
b-y-t
House, home, or household.
“Beth” in this verse is bēt. Both place-names begin with בֵּית (bēt, “house of”), the construct form of בַּיִת (bayit, “house”). The verse twice names a house, while one is marked by גָּמוּל (gāmûl, “recompense”) and the other by מָעוֹן (māʿōn, “dwelling place”).
ALSO GROWS
bayit: A house, home, or household.
בַּיִת
The shared “Beth” in the verse carries this house-word into both named places.
Bēt-ʾEl: A place-name formed with the same “house of” word.
בֵּית־אֵל
Like the two Beth-names here, the compound keeps “house” audible as part of a place’s name.
THE PATTERN
Prophetic judgment becomes concrete by naming the places it reaches and then widening from named sites to whole cities.
And upon Kerioth, and upon Bozrah, and upon all the cities of the land of Moab, far or near.And Babylon, the beauty of kingdoms, the adornment of the Chaldeans' swelling, will be as when God overturned Sodom and Gomorrah.And they will lay you flat to the ground, you and your children within you, and will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time you were looked upon."THE THREAD
A Prayer of Moses the man of God. Lord, you are our dwelling place in generation and generation.Beth-meon contains מָעוֹן (māʿōn, “dwelling place”), the same Hebrew word rendered “dwelling place” here. The shared word links a named dwelling included under “upon” with the image of a dwelling place held across generations.
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