What Does Jeremiah 21:13 Mean in the King James?
Behold, I am against thee, O inhabitant of the valley, and rock of the plain, saith the LORD; which say, Who shall come down against us? or who shall enter into our habitations?
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 Hebrew word for their rock shares its root with besieging: the fortress they trust already holds the language of being encircled.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks to the reader who trusts a position, wall, or home to make them unreachable. The LORD names himself as already against that refuge, and the question of who can enter becomes a boast exposed from within. Neither a valley nor a rocky height places anyone beyond reach.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie this verse dissolves is that a strong position and secure home make a person untouchable.
THE ROOT
צוּר
tsur
GROWS FROM
צור
Rock; the same root also forms words for pressing in or laying siege.
The word for rock belongs to a root also used for laying siege. The verse holds fortress and encirclement together in one sound-shape: what looks like immovable security remains exposed to the force coming against it.
ALSO GROWS
matsor: Siege or besieged place.
מָצוֹר
The same root that names the rock also names the pressure of a siege, bringing their claimed refuge and its vulnerability close together.
vetsarti: I will lay siege against (Isaiah 29:3).
וְצַרְתִּי
This verb makes the root’s force concrete: a place that seems secure can still be surrounded.
יֹשֶׁבֶת
yoshevet
GROWS FROM
ישב
To sit, dwell, or settle.
The inhabitant is described through a root meaning to sit, dwell, and settle. The security here is bound not only to a structure but to the settled confidence that one’s chosen place makes one safe.
ALSO GROWS
yoshev: One who sits or dwells; a dweller.
יֹשֵׁב
The same root describes someone whose place has become a settled home.
moshav: Dwelling place or settlement.
מוֹשָׁב
A dwelling itself grows from the language of sitting and settling, linking the people’s identity to the place they trust.
THE PATTERN
A refuge built on the claim that no threat can reach it is exposed when the power it denies is already at its door.
The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground?Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?THE THREAD
The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground?Jeremiah’s inhabitant and Obadiah’s dweller come from the Hebrew root ישב (yashav), to sit, dwell, or settle. Both verses join a settled home to the boast that no one can reach it, then expose that confidence to the one coming against it.
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