What Does Jeremiah 32:31 Mean in the King James?
For this city hath been to me as a provocation of mine anger and of my fury from the day that they built it even unto this day; that I should remove it from before my face,
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 city’s long-burning fury reaches its stated end in being turned away from God’s face.
THE MEANING
The city stands before God as a source of anger and burning fury, a condition the verse says has lasted from its building until now. Its removal from before God’s face names the judgment as a withdrawal from divine presence.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that what is established and long-standing must also be secure before God.
THE ROOT
לַהֲסִירָהּ
lahăsîrāh
GROWS FROM
סור
s-w-r
turn aside, depart, or take away
The word for “remove” comes from a root that also carries the sense of turning aside or departing. Joined to “from before my face,” it gives the judgment a relational shape: the city is taken out of God’s sight.
ALSO GROWS
sûr: turn aside; depart
סוּר
This branch shows the motion held within removal: a presence turns away or departs.
hēsîr: remove; take away
הֵסִיר
This causative form makes the turning into an act of taking something away.
פָּנַי
panay
GROWS FROM
פנה
p-n-h
turn toward; face
The word for face belongs to a root of turning or facing toward. So “before my face” evokes the sphere of direct regard and presence, and removal from it is a rupture in that relation.
ALSO GROWS
panim: face; presence
פָּנִים
This is the word behind “my face,” where the verse locates the city’s removal.
panah: turn toward; face
פָּנָה
This verb connects face with orientation: being before someone’s face is being within their regard.
חֲמָתִי
ḥămātî
GROWS FROM
חמה
ḥ-m-h
be hot; burn
Fury carries the image of heat, so the verse speaks of burning anger rather than detached disapproval. Its duration, from the city’s building until now, makes that heat feel sustained.
ALSO GROWS
ḥom: heat
חֹם
This branch makes explicit the heat carried within the word for fury.
ḥēmāh: fury; burning anger
חֵמָה
This noun names the burning force applied to the city in the verse.
THE PATTERN
Scripture pictures judgment as removal from God’s presence, while nearness to that presence is something sought and treasured.
Then said the LORD unto me, Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind could not be toward this people: cast them out of my sight, and let them go forth.Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;THE THREAD
And the LORD said, I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and will cast off this city Jerusalem which I have chosen, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there.The same root סור (sûr, “turn aside” or “depart”) appears in the removal language, alongside the same image of being taken from God’s sight. The parallel makes Jeremiah’s phrase part of a recurring scriptural picture of judgment as withdrawal from divine presence.
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