What Does Jeremiah 32:11 Mean in the King James?
So I took the evidence of the purchase, both that which was sealed according to the law and custom, and that which was open:
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 same purchase is held in two forms: one sealed for safekeeping, the other open to view.
THE MEANING
The purchase is recorded in both a sealed form and an open one, under the stated law and custom. What is guarded from alteration and what is visible to be examined carry the same claim.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A sealed record is not therefore absent or unknowable: the same purchase also has an open record.
THE ROOT
חָתוּם
ḥātûm
GROWS FROM
חתם
ḥ-t-m
to seal or close with a seal
The deed is not merely closed; it is marked and secured. Beside the open copy, the sealed form shows that protection and visibility can preserve one witness together.
ALSO GROWS
ḥōtām: signet or seal
חוֹתָם
The seal is the mark that secures the document’s authority.
ḥātam: to seal or affix a seal
חָתַם
The verb names the act that makes this copy protected.
גָּלוּי
gālûy
GROWS FROM
גלה
g-l-h
to uncover or reveal; the root also names going into exile
The word translated “open” carries the sense of what has been uncovered and brought into view. The passage places that revealed copy beside the sealed one, so disclosure and safekeeping serve the same record.
ALSO GROWS
gālāh: to uncover or reveal
גָּלָה
This is the action expressed by the open deed: its contents are uncovered to view.
gōlāh: exile or the exiles
גּוֹלָה
The same root’s range also includes being carried out from a place; here, by contrast, the deed itself is uncovered and made visible.
מִקְנָה
miqnāh
GROWS FROM
קנה
q-n-h
to acquire or gain possession
The document records an acquisition, a claim to something possessed. Both copies, the secured one and the visible one, bear witness to that same purchase.
ALSO GROWS
qānāh: to acquire or buy
קָנָה
The verb names the act at the center of the recorded transaction.
qōnēh: possessor or owner
קֹנֵה
This form shifts attention from acquiring to the one who holds possession, the claim the deed records.
THE PATTERN
A written witness can be sealed for preservation and opened when its contents are to be seen.
Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples.And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals.And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.THE THREAD
Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Take these evidences, this evidence of the purchase, both which is sealed, and this evidence which is open; and put them in an earthen vessel, that they may continue many days.The word rendered “open” repeats the root behind the uncovered copy in verse 11. The next verse places both forms in an earthen vessel to preserve them for many days, making the open record part of the same keeping as the sealed one.
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