What Does Jeremiah 31:39 Mean in the King James?
And the measuring line shall yet go forth over against it upon the hill Gareb, and shall compass about to Goath.
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
Restoration becomes visible as a line that moves outward and then closes around a place.
THE MEANING
A line reaches across the hill and circles toward another landmark. Restoration takes shape as measurable ground, with an extent and an edge. The verse gives wholeness a visible outline.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the idea that restoration is too vague to touch: here, the line marks its reach on the ground.
THE ROOT
מִדָּה
middāh
GROWS FROM
מדד
m-d-d
To measure; to determine an extent.
“measuring” in this verse is middāh. The measure gives the line a purpose: it marks the extent of a place that can be inhabited. The verse’s surrounding line completes that measure, making restoration a defined space rather than an abstract promise.
ALSO GROWS
madad: To measure or measure out.
מָדַד
This verb names the act behind the measured extent in the verse.
mad: A garment or attire, something measured to fit.
מַד
This branch gives the root a concrete form: measured extent can take shape around a body.
וְנָסַב
venāsav
GROWS FROM
סבב
s-b-b
To turn about, circle, or surround.
“compass about” in this verse is venāsav. The line does more than reach a landmark; it turns around and contains a space. Its movement gives the measured place a boundary.
ALSO GROWS
sabab: To turn, circle, or surround.
סָבַב
This verb carries the circular movement of the line around the place.
saviv: Around or all about.
סָבִיב
This related form names the space held on every side by the encircling line.
THE PATTERN
Scripture renders restoration as a place whose extent is measured and whose boundary can be seen.
Then said I, Whither goest thou? And he said unto me, To measure Jerusalem, to see what is the breadth thereof, and what is the length thereof.And he brought me thither, and, behold, there was a man, whose appearance was like the appearance of brass, with a line of flax in his hand, and a measuring reed; and he stood in the gate.And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof.THE THREAD
Then said I, Whither goest thou? And he said unto me, To measure Jerusalem, to see what is the breadth thereof, and what is the length thereof.Both verses draw on מָדַד (madad, to measure): Jeremiah’s line marks the city’s perimeter, while Zechariah names its breadth and length. The shared root turns the line into a way of seeing the place’s full extent.
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