What Does Jeremiah 19:12 Mean in the King James?
Thus will I do unto this place, saith the LORD, and to the inhabitants thereof, and even make this city as Tophet:
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 city is not merely judged; it is set as Tophet, so the place itself becomes judgment’s visible form.
THE MEANING
The verse binds the city and its inhabitants to one fate: the place is set as Tophet. Scripture links Tophet with child sacrifice and the Valley of Slaughter, making the image concrete: the ground itself bears witness to the violence done there.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that living inside the city puts its inhabitants beyond the city’s judgment is undone: the verse binds residents and place to the same fate.
THE ROOT
לָשׂוּם
lāśûm
GROWS FROM
שׂים
ś-y-m
To put, set, or place.
Under the English “make” is the verb שׂוּם (śûm, “to put or set”). The city is set as Tophet, its condition and identity are made visible in the place itself.
ALSO GROWS
śûm: To put, set, or place.
שׂוּם
This infinitive form carries the action translated “make this city as Tophet”: the city is set into that condition.
vayyāśem: And he placed; the same root appears in Genesis 2:8, where God puts the human in the garden.
וַיָּשֶׂם
The root can describe placing someone in a location; here it describes the city being set in a new state.
הַמָּקוֹם
hammāqôm
GROWS FROM
קום
q-w-m
To stand, rise, or be established.
מָקוֹם (māqôm, “place”) comes from a root of standing or rising, keeping attention on the ground where the judgment takes form. The same place-word appears in the neighboring verse, where no place remains for burial.
ALSO GROWS
qûm: To stand or rise.
קוּם
The root carries the sense of standing beneath the location the verse names.
hēqîm: To raise, establish, or set up.
הֵקִים
This form shows how the root can describe what is established; the city’s place is assigned a new condition.
יֹשְׁבֶיהָ
yōšĕvēhā
GROWS FROM
ישב
y-sh-b
To sit, dwell, or remain.
The inhabitants are named as those who dwell there, linking the residents to the city’s place. The verse does not separate the fate of the city from the fate of the people living in it.
ALSO GROWS
yāšav: To sit or dwell.
יָשַׁב
This root reveals the image inside “inhabitants”: those who sit and dwell in the city.
môšāv: A dwelling or seat.
מוֹשָׁב
The same root names a dwelling-place, joining the people who dwell with the place that is set as Tophet.
THE PATTERN
When violence fills a place, judgment makes the place itself bear the mark of that violence.
And he defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech.Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that it shall no more be called Tophet, nor the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter: for they shall bury in Tophet, till there be no place.O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.THE THREAD
And shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaketh a potter’s vessel, that cannot be made whole again: and they shall bury them in Tophet, till there be no place to bury.Both verses use מָקוֹם (māqôm, “place”): verse 11 ends with no place left to bury the dead, and verse 12 sets the city as Tophet. The repeated word joins the crowded burial ground to the city’s new identity.
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