What Does Jeremiah 33:4 Mean in the King James?
For thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city, and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah, which are thrown down by the mounts, and by the sword;
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 Hebrew root behind the siege mound also names a highway: the assault advances by raising a road toward the homes.
THE MEANING
The verse places the city’s homes and the rulers’ residences under the same threat: rank does not make a house unreachable by violence. Siege earthworks rise toward them, and the sword brings devastation into the built places where people live.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A ruler’s residence is not beyond the reach of the violence striking the city’s homes.
THE ROOT
הַסֹּלְלוֹת
hasolelot
GROWS FROM
סלל
salal
To raise, heap up, or cast up.
The siege mounts are earth raised into an approach toward the city. The same root gives the word for a highway, holding together the raised mound pressed against a wall and the road made for passage.
ALSO GROWS
solelah: A siege mound or ramp.
סֹלְלָה
This is the singular form of the raised earthwork named in the verse.
mesillah: A highway or raised road.
מְסִלָּה
It shares the root’s sense of raising a way, revealing the road-like approach built toward the city.
הַחֶרֶב
hacherev
GROWS FROM
חרב
charav
To become dry, desolate, or laid waste.
The Hebrew word for sword belongs to the חרב family associated with drying out and desolation. English names the weapon; the Hebrew word family also places it beside the ruin the weapon brings.
ALSO GROWS
charev: Dry or desolate.
חָרֵב
The related form names the devastated condition that accompanies the sword in this verse.
chorbah: Ruin or desolation.
חָרְבָּה
This branch makes the sword’s association with devastation visible within the same word family.
הַנִּתָּצִים
hanittatsim
GROWS FROM
נתץ
natats
To tear down or dismantle.
“thrown down” in this verse is hanittatsim. The Hebrew form presents the houses as the objects of demolition, not merely as structures that have fallen. The root’s force is the taking apart of what has been built.
ALSO GROWS
natats: To tear down or dismantle.
נָתַץ
This verb supplies the root action behind the houses being thrown down.
nittats: To be pulled down or demolished.
נִתַּץ
This passive form makes clear that the houses receive the force of the destruction.
THE PATTERN
When a city comes under assault, the homes of rulers and residents become exposed within the same breach.
And he burnt the house of the LORD, and the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem, and every great man’s house burnt he with fire.And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.THE THREAD
Behold the mounts, they are come unto the city to take it; and the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans, that fight against it, because of the sword, and of the famine, and of the pestilence: and what thou hast spoken is come to pass; and, behold, thou seest it.Jeremiah 32:24 uses the same Hebrew word for the siege mounts, making their movement toward the city explicit. Here, the raised approach and the sword reach the houses within it.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us