What Does Jeremiah 49:20 Mean?
Therefore hear and respond to the counsel of the LORD, which he has counseled against Edom, and to his plans, which he has planned against those who settle in Teman. Surely the little ones of the flock shall drag them off. Surely he shall make their pasture a ruin upon 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
Therefore hear the counsel of the LORD, that he hath taken against Edom; and his purposes, that he hath purposed against the inhabitants of Teman: Surely the least of the flock shall draw them out: surely he shall make their habitations desolate with them.THE KEY
The “drawing out” carries the force of dragging away: the LORD’s counsel takes shape as removal through the flock’s youngest.
THE MEANING
The LORD’s counsel against Edom is presented as a settled course: the young of the flock drag its people out, and their dwellings become desolate with them. The repeated language of counsel and devising gives the judgment deliberation and resolve, while its agents seem least equipped to carry it. The removal is forceful, not gentle persuasion.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that a purpose can take effect only through visibly powerful agents: here, the flock’s youngest carry out the removal.
THE ROOT
עֲצַת
ʿăṣat
GROWS FROM
יעץ
yāʿaṣ
To counsel, advise, or resolve.
“counseled against Edom” in this verse is ʿăṣat. English separates “counsel” from “hath taken,” but both forms grow from יָעַץ (yāʿaṣ), to counsel or resolve. The verse presents the counsel itself as becoming the chosen course of action.
ALSO GROWS
ʿēṣāh: Counsel or advice.
עֵצָה
This is the noun form in the verse; it shares its root with the LORD’s act of taking counsel against Edom.
yōʿēṣ: One who gives counsel.
יוֹעֵץ
This related form names the one who counsels, revealing the same root behind counsel, the act of advising, and the adviser.
מַחְשְׁבוֹתָיו
maḥshevotav
GROWS FROM
חשב
ḥāshav
To think, devise, or reckon.
The noun and verb repeat חָשַׁב (ḥāshav): the LORD’s plans are what he has devised. The Hebrew root also carries the sense of thought shaped into a design.
ALSO GROWS
maḥashavah: A thought or plan; the plural form appears in this verse.
מַחֲשָׁבָה
It shows that “purposes” names considered designs, not an unformed wish.
ḥāshav: To think through, devise, or reckon.
חָשַׁב
This is the verb paired with “purposes,” joining the plan to the act of devising it.
יִסְחָבֻם
yisḥāvum
GROWS FROM
סחב
sāḥav
To drag or haul away.
“drag them off” in this verse is yisḥāvum. The verb rendered “draw them out” comes from סָחַב (sāḥav), to drag or haul away. The same root describes a body dragged and cast beyond Jerusalem’s gates in Jeremiah 22:19; here it gives the flock’s action the force of forced removal.
ALSO GROWS
yisḥāvum: They drag them out or away.
יִסְחָבֻם
This is the verb in the verse, making the flock’s action a physical removal.
sāḥōv: Dragged or hauled away; used in Jeremiah 22:19.
סָחוֹב
Jeremiah uses the same root for a body dragged and cast beyond the gates, reinforcing the forceful sense here.
THE PATTERN
A purpose can reach its outcome through agents whose apparent strength seems smaller than the task.
Calling a swooping bird from the sunrise, the man of my counsel from a far land. Yes, I have spoken it, and I will also bring it in; I have shaped it, and I will also make it.And the LORD said to Gideon, By the three hundred men that lapped will I deliver you, and give the Midianites into your hand; and let all the other people go, every man to his place.But God picked out the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; and God picked out the weak things of the world to shame the strong.THE THREAD
Therefore hear and respond to the counsel of the LORD, which he has counseled against Babylon, and to the purposes he has purposed against the land of the Chaldeans. Surely the least of the flock shall drag them away; surely he shall make their pasture emptied upon them.Jeremiah repeats nearly the same Hebrew pattern for Babylon: the LORD’s counsel, the purpose he devised, and the flock dragging its target away. The echo shows the same structure of judgment reaching beyond Edom.
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