What Does Jeremiah 32:17 Mean in the King James?

Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee:

Jeremiah 32:17 · 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 Hebrew word translated “hard” also names what is wondrous: what exceeds your grasp is not beyond the Creator’s reach.

THE MEANING

The One who makes heaven and earth holds power beyond the measure of what you can see or do. What seems impossible from where you stand is not beyond God’s capacity.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

This undoes the belief that because you cannot see a way forward, no way exists.

THE ROOT

יִפָּלֵא

yippale

GROWS FROM

פלא

p-l-ʾ

To be extraordinary or wondrous, beyond ordinary comprehension.

The word rendered “hard” is from the same root used for wonders. The verse frames what exceeds human understanding as wondrous, while declaring that nothing lies beyond God’s reach.

ALSO GROWS

pele: Wonder, marvel

פֶּלֶא

This noun makes the shared root explicit: what is beyond ordinary measure can be a wonder.

nifla’ot: Wonders, marvelous deeds

נִפְלָאוֹת

This plural form names acts that exceed ordinary expectation, echoing the verse’s claim about God’s power.

THE PATTERN

What exceeds human capacity is not beyond God’s power.

Is any thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.

Genesis 18:14 · KJVThe same Hebrew root ⁨פלא⁩ underlies “too hard,” making the question about what is wondrous rather than beyond God’s power.

I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee.

Job 42:2 · KJVJob names the same expansive trust: no purpose is outside God’s capacity.

For with God nothing shall be impossible.

Luke 1:37 · KJVThis states the pattern plainly: what is impossible to people is possible with God.

THE THREAD

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.

Psalm 139:6 · KJV

Jeremiah’s “too hard” and the psalm’s “too wonderful” draw on the Hebrew root ⁨פלא⁩, for what is extraordinary and beyond comprehension. What the psalmist cannot attain is still held within the reach of the One who made heaven and earth.

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