What Does Jeremiah 17:18 Mean in the King James?

Let them be confounded that persecute me, but let not me be confounded: let them be dismayed, but let not me be dismayed: bring upon them the day of evil, and destroy them with double destruction.

Jeremiah 17:18 · 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

“Double destruction” and “destroy them” carry the same Hebrew root, turning the plea into a deliberate repetition of breaking.

THE MEANING

The verse gives the reader words for a raw plea: let those who pursue me fall into shame and dismay while I remain unshaken. It also names the desire without softening it: let calamity come upon them, and let their ruin be doubled.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It dissolves the belief that prayer must hide its desire for retribution: the speaker asks plainly for the pursuers’ ruin.

THE ROOT

שִׁבָּרוֹן

shibbārôn

GROWS FROM

שבר

to break, fracture, or shatter

The Hebrew repeats ⁨שבר⁩ in both “destruction” and “destroy them,” while ⁨מִשְׁנֶה⁩ (mishneh, “double”) intensifies the breaking. English makes these a noun and a verb; the repeated consonants keep them visibly joined.

ALSO GROWS

shāvar: to break or shatter

שָׁבַר

This verb shares the root in ⁨שָׁבְרֵם⁩ (shavrem), “destroy them,” making the requested action another form of breaking.

shever: fracture, ruin, or calamity

שֶׁבֶר

This noun shows how the same root can name the resulting break or ruin.

nishbar: broken

נִשְׁבָּר

Psalm 51:17 uses this form for a broken heart, showing that ⁨שבר⁩ names breaking itself, with its meaning shaped by what is broken and how the verse regards it.

THE PATTERN

When persecution is named, the prayer can ask both for the threatened one to remain standing and for the pursuer to face ruin.

Let them be confounded and put to shame that seek after my soul: let them be turned back and brought to confusion that devise my hurt.

Psalm 35:4 · KJVLike Jeremiah’s plea, this verse asks for the pursuers’ plans to turn back on them in shame and defeat.

Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you;

2 Thessalonians 1:6 · KJVIt expresses the pattern of trouble being answered with tribulation for those who cause it.

And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?

Revelation 6:10 · KJVThe cry asks for judgment and vengeance against those who have persecuted and killed.

THE THREAD

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

Psalm 51:17 · KJV

“Double destruction” and “broken” share the Hebrew root ⁨שבר⁩ (shavar, to break). The same root that names the ruin sought for the pursuers can describe a broken heart that God does not despise.

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