What Does Jeremiah 13:4 Mean in the King James?
Take the girdle that thou hast got, which is upon thy loins, and arise, go to Euphrates, and hide it there in a hole of the rock.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The verb for “hide” is טָמַן (ṭāman, to conceal or bury), the root behind a word for “hidden treasure”, so this burial leaves open whether concealment preserves what is held close.
THE MEANING
The command takes a girdle worn at the loins and places it inside a rock, beyond sight. Concealment leaves its condition unseen; the verse that follows brings it back into view. Being hidden, by itself, does not prove that something is preserved.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Whatever is out of sight is safely preserved. The passage overturns that assurance when the girdle is recovered marred and useless.
THE ROOT
טָמַן
ṭāman
GROWS FROM
טמן
To hide, conceal, or bury out of sight.
“hide” in this verse is ṭāman. English gives this as a simple act of hiding, but the same root also forms a Hebrew word for “hidden treasure.” Here, the girdle’s concealment leaves its worth and condition unresolved until it is recovered.
ALSO GROWS
ṭāmûn: Hidden, concealed.
טָמוּן
This form makes the concealed state itself visible in the language: the girdle is placed where it cannot be seen.
maṭmōn: Hidden treasure.
מַטְמוֹן
The same root can describe something deliberately kept out of sight and valued; in this verse, the hidden object’s condition remains to be disclosed.
אֵזוֹר
ʾēzôr
GROWS FROM
אזר
To gird or bind around.
The girdle’s name is tied to the action of girding: it encircles and holds at the loins. The object taken out of sight is first defined by how closely it is bound to the body.
ALSO GROWS
ʾĕzār-nāʾ: “Gird up now” (Job 38:3).
אֱזָר־נָא
The verb makes explicit the girdle’s root idea of binding around the loins.
neʾĕzār: Girded (Psalm 65:6).
נֶאְזָר
This form extends the root beyond clothing: something can be girded or encircled with strength.
THE PATTERN
What is hidden can have its condition brought into view.
Then I went to Euphrates, and digged, and took the girdle from the place where I had hid it: and, behold, the girdle was marred, it was profitable for nothing.For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall not be known and come abroad.For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.THE THREAD
Then I went to Euphrates, and digged, and took the girdle from the place where I had hid it: and, behold, the girdle was marred, it was profitable for nothing.The same root טָמַן (ṭāman, to hide or bury) returns when the girdle is dug up. Its recovery reveals what the first verse leaves hidden: the girdle is marred and no longer useful.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us