What Does Jeremiah 14:19 Mean in the King James?
Hast thou utterly rejected Judah? hath thy soul lothed Zion? why hast thou smitten us, and there is no healing for us? we looked for peace, and there is no good; and for the time of healing, and behold trouble!
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 verse ends not with vague trouble but with terror, what stands where wholeness and healing were expected.
THE MEANING
This verse gives language to the present moment when hope for wholeness and healing meets no good, and terror is what arrives. Its questions hold the fear of rejection without pretending that relief has come.
THE ROOT
בְּעָתָה
beʿātāh
GROWS FROM
בעת
To terrify or strike with dread.
“trouble” in this verse is beʿātāh. Here the final word is closer to terror or sudden dread than to a general problem. The verse ends by naming what the speaker encounters where healing was expected.
ALSO GROWS
baʿat: To terrify, strike with dread.
בָּעַת
The verb presents distress as fear that takes hold, sharpening the force of the verse’s last word.
biʿutim: Terrors.
בִּעוּתִים
This related form names dread as an overwhelming experience, not merely a difficult circumstance.
שָׁלוֹם
shalom
GROWS FROM
שלם
To be whole, complete, or sound.
“peace” in this verse is shalom. The sought shalom is wholeness, more than a quiet interval. Its root also carries the idea of making complete or settling what is owed, so the longing reaches toward restoration.
ALSO GROWS
shalem: Whole, complete.
שָׁלֵם
This branch makes clear that the peace sought here is a state of wholeness.
shillem: To repay or make restitution.
שִׁלֵּם
The root’s sense of restoring what is owed gives shalom a reach beyond calm into things being made whole.
מַרְפֵּא
marpe
GROWS FROM
רפא
To heal or restore health.
“healing” in this verse is marpe. The verse names marpe twice: first as what is absent, then as what the speaker awaits. A sound echo with רָפָה (raphah, release or let the hands drop) lets restoration resonate with letting go; the words share the רפ consonants, while their final letters remain distinct.
ALSO GROWS
rapha: To heal, restore health.
רָפָא
The verb names the restoration the speaker says is missing.
refuʾah: Healing, recovery.
רְפוּאָה
This related noun keeps the focus on restored health, the awaited outcome in the verse.
THE PATTERN
Scripture names unmet longing for wholeness and healing alongside distress without requiring distress to masquerade as peace.
He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.THE THREAD
But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.Isaiah 53:5 brings shalom and the רפא healing root into one line, joining wholeness with restored health. Jeremiah’s paired longing for shalom and marpe belongs to that same shared field: peace and healing are not separate wishes.
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