What Does Jeremiah 13:7 Mean in the King James?

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.

Jeremiah 13:7 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

The Hebrew describes the belt with the language of corruption and destruction, then says it can no longer succeed at anything.

THE MEANING

What is meant to remain close can be hidden away from its place until it is ruined. The loss is not only visible damage: the thing can no longer fulfill its purpose.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The verse undoes the belief that a bond can be set aside without consequence and still remain ready to serve its purpose.

THE ROOT

נִשְׁחַת

nishchat

GROWS FROM

שחת

shachat

to ruin, destroy, or corrupt

“marred” in this verse is nishchat. The word reaches beyond surface damage: this is the language of corruption and ruin. A belt meant to cling close has become unfit for its purpose.

ALSO GROWS

hishchit: to destroy or corrupt

הִשְׁחִית

This verb form shares the root’s force of ruining what was whole.

mashchit: destroyer, one who brings ruin

מַשְׁחִית

The root can name the agent of destruction as well as the ruined state.

יִצְלַח

yitslach

GROWS FROM

צלח

tsalach

to succeed, prosper, or advance

The Hebrew says the belt will not succeed at anything. “Profitable” can sound like a question of value; the root points to the loss of its ability to fulfill any function.

ALSO GROWS

hitzliach: to cause to prosper or succeed

הִצְלִיחַ

This form shows the root describing success as something brought about.

matsliach: prospering, succeeding

מַצְלִיחַ

Set beside the ruined belt, this branch makes its lost capacity for success plain.

THE PATTERN

What is made to cling to its sustaining source fulfills its purpose through that attachment.

For as the girdle cleaveth to the loins of a man, so have I caused to cleave unto me the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah, saith the LORD; that they might be unto me for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory: but they would not hear.

Jeremiah 13:11 · KJVThe belt’s intended closeness becomes an image of a bond that gives a people their purpose.

And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

Psalm 1:3 · KJVA tree’s fruitfulness comes through remaining planted beside its sustaining waters.

I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

John 15:5 · KJVThe branch bears fruit through its living attachment to the vine.

THE THREAD

The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.

Genesis 6:11 · KJV

“Corrupt” comes from the same Hebrew root as “marred”: ⁨שחת⁩ (shachat), meaning to ruin or corrupt. The shared root connects the belt’s ruined state with corruption described at the scale of the earth.

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