What Does Jeremiah 27:18 Mean in the King James?
But if they be prophets, and if the word of the LORD be with them, let them now make intercession to the LORD of hosts, that the vessels which are left in the house of the LORD, and in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem, go not to Babylon.
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 makes intercession an encounter: a word from the LORD presses the prophet into God’s presence on behalf of what is in danger.
THE MEANING
A word claimed to be from the LORD enters the threatened matter as an appeal to the LORD of hosts. The danger is concrete: the vessels remaining in the LORD’s house, the king’s house, and Jerusalem may be carried to Babylon, and the intercession asks that they remain.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The claim this undoes is that prophetic authority proves itself by declaration alone; here its test is whether the prophet appeals to God for what is in danger.
THE ROOT
יִפְגְּעוּ־נָא
yifge'u-na
GROWS FROM
פגע
Meet, encounter, or reach; by extension, entreat or intercede.
The verb translated “make intercession” grows from the verb for meeting or encountering, so prayer here is an approach to the LORD within the threatened matter. English “intercession” can hide this active sense of meeting and reaching.
ALSO GROWS
pāgaʿ: Meet or encounter.
פָּגַע
This basic sense shows intercession as an encounter with the LORD on behalf of the vessels.
hipgīaʿ: Entreat or make intercession.
הִפְגִּיעַ
This related form carries the root into the act of appealing for another, as the prophets are challenged to do here.
דְּבַר־יְהוָה
devar-YHWH
GROWS FROM
דבר
Speak or declare; the related noun can mean a word, matter, or affair.
The Hebrew noun can mean a spoken word and also a matter or affair, keeping utterance connected to concrete reality. The claimed word of the LORD is set beside actual vessels in danger, so the verse makes divine speech answerable to the matter at hand.
ALSO GROWS
dibber: Spoke or declared.
דִּבֵּר
This verbal branch links the prophet’s claim to speak with the word said to be with them.
davar: Word, matter, or affair.
דָּבָר
This noun’s range joins the LORD’s word to the concrete matter of the vessels and their threatened removal.
THE PATTERN
Intercession turns an appeal to God into a plea for another’s life, healing, or preservation.
Now therefore restore the man his wife; for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live: and if thou restore her not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou, and all that are thine.Moreover as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the LORD in ceasing to pray for you: but I will teach you the good and the right way:Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.THE THREAD
Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.The Hebrew verb behind “made intercession” shares the root פגע (p-g-ʿ, pāgaʿ), meaning to meet or encounter, with Jeremiah’s “make intercession.” Jeremiah presents the prophets’ appeal for the threatened vessels; Isaiah shows that same root reaching toward those who rebel.
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