What Does Jeremiah 6:1 Mean?
O children of Benjamin, gather yourselves to flee from within Jerusalem, and blow the horn in Tekoa, and lift a load over Beth-hakkerem. For harm leans over from the north, and a great breaking.
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
O ye children of Benjamin, gather yourselves to flee out of the midst of Jerusalem, and blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and set up a sign of fire in Beth-haccerem: for evil appeareth out of the north, and great destruction.THE KEY
The place-name Tekoa echoes the command to blow, so the warning is sounded from within the very place named to sound it.
THE MEANING
Here, danger does not arrive as a vague unease: it comes with a call to flee, a trumpet blast, and a fire signal lifted high. The threat is named plainly as evil coming from the north, bringing great destruction.
THE ROOT
תִּקְעוּ
tiq'u
GROWS FROM
תקע
taqaʿ
thrust, drive in, sound a trumpet
The place-name Tekoa shares the root consonants of the command to blow: the alarm sounds from inside the name of the place itself. This root can also mean to thrust or drive something in, so the trumpet blast is a sound driven outward to make danger known.
ALSO GROWS
teqiʿah: a trumpet blast or sounding
תְּקִיעָה
This related form shows the command as a public alarm carried by sound.
teqoʿa: Tekoa, the place-name
תְּקוֹעַ
The place-name echoes the root of the trumpet command, binding location and signal together.
מַשְׂאֵת
mas'et
GROWS FROM
נשא
nasa
lift, carry, bear
“lift a load” in this verse is mas'et. The Hebrew word for the fire signal belongs to the seed meaning lift, carry, or bear: the signal is raised high into view. A related word means burden, so the warning is both lifted for all to see and a weight that cannot be ignored.
ALSO GROWS
nasa: to lift, carry, or bear
נָשָׂא
This verb names the action behind raising the fire signal.
massa: a burden or oracle
מַשָּׂא
The shared root links the visible signal with a weight or message that is carried.
nasi: a prince or leader
נָשִׂיא
The related word carries the sense of one raised or elevated, echoing the signal lifted above the surrounding place.
צָפוֹן
tsafon
GROWS FROM
צפן
tsafan
hide, conceal, store away
The Hebrew word for north carries the root sense of hiding or storing away. The danger is located in a direction whose name also evokes what has been concealed, an undertone the English compass word leaves quiet.
ALSO GROWS
tsafan: to hide, conceal, or store away
צָפַן
The verb reveals the hiddenness carried by the word for north.
tsafun: hidden or concealed
צָפוּן
This related form makes the north’s association with what is out of sight audible in the verse.
THE PATTERN
When danger approaches, a clear signal makes the threat visible and carries warning to others.
If, when he sees the sword come upon the land, he blows the horn and warns the people;Blow the ram's horn in Zion, and shout on my set-apart mountain. Let all the settlers of the land tremble, for the day of the LORD comes, for it is drawing near.For if the trumpet gives an unclear sound, who will arm himself for battle?THE THREAD
Blow the ram's horn in Zion, and shout on my set-apart mountain. Let all the settlers of the land tremble, for the day of the LORD comes, for it is drawing near.Both verses use תקע (taqaʿ) for blowing the trumpet. Here the alarm rises from Tekoa; in Joel it sounds in Zion, carrying the same urgent signal into another place.
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