What Does Jeremiah 31:16 Mean in the King James?

Thus saith the LORD; Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears: for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the LORD; and they shall come again from the land of the enemy.

Jeremiah 31:16 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

The tears loosen as the LORD names both the labor beneath them and the return from the place holding what is loved.

THE MEANING

The LORD meets you in grief without calling your tears a failure: your labor is seen, and its recompense is named. What seems held in an enemy’s land is not beyond the reach of return.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The lie is that grieving means your labor has gone unseen and nothing can return. This verse holds recognition and return together.

THE ROOT

וְשָׁבוּ

ve-shavu

GROWS FROM

שוב

to turn back, return

The word translated “come again” carries the motion of turning back. Return here is a change of direction out of enemy-held territory, not merely the reappearance of what was lost.

ALSO GROWS

teshuvah: returning, turning back

תְּשׁוּבָה

This noun keeps the root’s movement visible: the promise holds a way back within the word for return.

yeshovev: restores, turns back

יְשׁוֹבֵב

Psalm 23:3 uses this form for the LORD restoring the living soul; here, the same root gives return its restorative force.

שָׂכָר

sakar

GROWS FROM

שכר

wages, hire, compensation

“rewarded” in this verse is sakar. The word translated “reward” has the concrete sense of wages or compensation. The verse places grief and labor together, making clear that the work carried through loss is counted rather than erased.

ALSO GROWS

sakhir: hired worker

שָׂכִיר

The root names the worker as well as the wages, keeping the person’s labor in view.

maskoret: wages, hire

מַשְׂכֹּרֶת

This related form preserves the material sense behind “reward”: compensation given for work.

THE PATTERN

Grief is answered with recognition of the labor beneath loss and a promise of return.

They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.

Psalm 126:5-6 · KJVTears accompany real labor, and the one who goes out weeping comes back carrying what that labor has yielded.

Therefore the redeemed of the LORD shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away.

Isaiah 51:11 · KJVThe return from sorrow’s reach arrives with singing, giving the promise of return a visible direction.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy.

John 16:20 · KJVThe sorrow is named plainly, then its direction changes into joy.

THE THREAD

And there is hope in thine end, saith the LORD, that thy children shall come again to their own border.

Jeremiah 31:17 · KJV

“Shall come again” repeats the root ⁨שׁוּב⁩ (shuv, “return”) from this verse. The next line makes the direction explicit: the children return from the enemy’s land to their own border.

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