What Does Jeremiah 18:23 Mean in the King James?
Yet, LORD, thou knowest all their counsel against me to slay me: forgive not their iniquity, neither blot out their sin from thy sight, but let them be overthrown before thee; deal thus with them in the time of thine anger.
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 prayer asks God not to cover the plotters’ wrong or wipe it away, leaving their violence exposed before him.
THE MEANING
A plot to kill is brought into the LORD’s sight without being softened. The speaker asks that the wrong stay uncovered and unerased, then asks for the plotters to fall before God in the time of his anger. The verse holds this demand for retribution openly.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that anger at violence must be hidden or immediately turned into forgiveness.
THE ROOT
כָּפַר
kaphar
GROWS FROM
כפר
cover, cover over
“Forgive not” uses כפר (kaphar, cover): the speaker asks that the wrongdoing not be covered over. The next clause uses a different image, wiping away, so the plea refuses both covering and erasure.
ALSO GROWS
kopher: A covering substance
כֹּפֶר
This tangible covering shows the image beneath the word translated “forgive.”
Covering: Covering, atonement
כִּפּוּר
The same root carries the sense of covering into the language of atonement.
חַטָּאתָם
chatta'tam
GROWS FROM
חטא
miss, miss the mark
English “sin” can sound like a fixed category; חטא (chata, miss) keeps the sense of a missed mark in view. Here the speaker asks that this missing not be blotted from God’s sight.
ALSO GROWS
Miss: To miss or fail
חָטָא
The verb keeps the active sense of missing inside the noun translated “sin.”
chatta't: Sin; an offering for sin
חַטָּאת
The related term preserves the same root as the passage’s “their sin.”
תִּמְחִי
timchi
GROWS FROM
מחה
wipe, erase
“blot out” in this verse is timchi. This word pictures wiping away what remains visible. The speaker asks that the missing stay in God’s sight, then follows with a demand for overthrow and anger.
ALSO GROWS
machah: To wipe away or erase
מָחָה
This is the root verb behind “blot out,” making the request explicitly about erasure.
nimchah: Be erased or wiped out
נִמְחָה
The passive form shows the same root describing what happens to something removed from sight.
THE PATTERN
A cry against grave wrong keeps it visible before God and places its judgment before him.
Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the LORD; and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out.Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.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?THE THREAD
Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.Both passages use חטא (chata, missing) for sin and מחה (machah, wipe away) for blotting. Jeremiah asks that others’ missing remain before God; the psalm asks that his own be wiped away.
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