What Does Jeremiah 17:4 Mean in the King James?
And thou, even thyself, shalt discontinue from thine heritage that I gave thee; and I will cause thee to serve thine enemies in the land which thou knowest not: for ye have kindled a fire in mine anger, which shall burn for ever.
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 behind “discontinue” is שָׁמַט (shāmaṭ, to release): here release means losing an inheritance and ending in forced service on unfamiliar ground.
THE MEANING
You are told that the inheritance given to you is leaving your hands, and that you are made to serve enemies in a land you do not know. Divine anger is presented as fire already kindled and still burning; displacement and forced labor are part of the threat. Its time word is עוֹלָם (ʿolam, an age or ages), stretching that burning across a far-reaching span.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that what is given is automatically secure: an inheritance can be forfeited, and its loss can become subjection.
THE ROOT
וְשָׁמַטְתָּ
wəšāmaṭtā
GROWS FROM
שׁמט
Drop, let fall, release.
“Discontinue” can sound merely procedural, but שָׁמַט (shāmaṭ, to release or let fall) carries the image of something being let go. The same root describes letting land rest; here that release becomes the loss of an inheritance.
ALSO GROWS
shemittah: Release or remission; the release year.
שְׁמִטָּה
The word shows that this root can name a deliberate letting-go, sharpening the force of its use for a devastating loss here.
ūšemaṭtāh: You shall let it go or let it rest (Exodus 23:11).
וּשְׁמַטְתָּהּ
The land is released to rest; Jeremiah uses the same root in a threat of being cut off from inherited ground.
וְהַעֲבַדְתִּיךָ
wəhaʿăvaḏtîḵā
GROWS FROM
עבד
Work or serve.
“serve” in this verse is wəhaʿăvaḏtîḵā. This root names both service and the person who serves. The threat is concrete and coercive: losing the inheritance is followed by labor under enemies in unfamiliar land.
ALSO GROWS
ʿeved: Servant or slave.
עֶבֶד
The word makes visible the person forced into the position threatened by the verse.
ʿăvōdāh: Work, labor, or service.
עֲבֹדָה
The shared root brings the cost of enemy rule down to the work demanded of the person.
עוֹלָם
ʿolam
GROWS FROM
עלם
Hide or conceal; עוֹלָם denotes an age or long duration, traditionally linked with what lies beyond sight.
עוֹלָם (ʿolam, an age or ages) is the Hebrew time word beneath “for ever.” Its association with what is hidden gives the duration an unseen horizon, while the verse keeps the image of burning vivid.
ALSO GROWS
ʿālam: To hide or conceal.
עָלַם
This verb belongs to the word family that gives עוֹלָם its association with what lies out of sight.
neʿĕlām: Hidden or concealed.
נֶעֱלָם
The hiddenness in this branch echoes the far-reaching, unseen horizon of the age named in the verse.
THE PATTERN
When what is entrusted is lost, possession can turn into displacement and freedom into service under another power.
Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the LORD shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee.And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you: and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste.Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?THE THREAD
But the seventh year thou shalt let it rest and lie still; that the poor of thy people may eat: and what they leave the beasts of the field shall eat. In like manner thou shalt deal with thy vineyard, and with thy oliveyard.The Hebrew verb behind “discontinue” shares the root שׁמט (shāmaṭ, to release) with the command to let the land rest. The same root that describes a measured release of the land becomes here a threat of losing one’s inherited ground.
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