What Does Jeremiah 36:9 Mean in the King James?
And it came to pass in the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, in the ninth month, that they proclaimed a fast before the LORD to all the people in Jerusalem, and to all the people that came from the cities of Judah unto Jerusalem.
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 proclaimed fast gathers people from Judah’s many towns into one shared act before the LORD in Jerusalem, whose name carries wholeness.
THE MEANING
A fast before the LORD gathers the people already in Jerusalem and those arriving from Judah’s cities into one shared act. The movement from many towns to Jerusalem gives the gathering its shape: many people meet in one place under one call. The destination’s name carries wholeness.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that fasting is necessarily isolated dissolves here: the verse places it in a publicly proclaimed gathering that spans Jerusalem and Judah’s cities.
THE ROOT
וַיִּקְרְאוּ
wayyiqre’u
GROWS FROM
ק־ר־א
q-r-ʾ
to call, summon, proclaim, or name
The verb behind “proclaimed” is קרא (qara, call); its word family includes both a convocation and a reading aloud. The root holds proclamation and gathering together: the fast reaches the whole people as a summons into shared presence before the LORD.
ALSO GROWS
miqra: convocation; reading
מִקְרָא
The same call-root can name a gathering or a reading, linking the proclamation with the assembly it brings together.
qeri’ah: calling; reading aloud
קְרִיאָה
A call can be heard and received; here the proclamation summons people into a shared act.
יְרוּשָׁלַיִם
Yerushalayim
GROWS FROM
ש־ל־ם
sh-l-m
wholeness, completeness
“Jerusalem” in this verse is Yerushalayim. The name Yerushalayim carries שָׁלוֹם (shalom, wholeness) with the dual ending -ayim. People come from Judah’s cities toward this named wholeness, so the destination participates in the meaning of the gathering.
ALSO GROWS
shalom: wholeness
שָׁלוֹם
This branch brings the name’s sense of wholeness into view as people gather in Jerusalem.
shalem: whole; complete; intact
שָׁלֵם
The related word for being whole echoes the movement from many places into one gathered people.
THE PATTERN
Fasting can gather people into a shared, public act before God.
Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the LORD your God, and cry unto the LORD,Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish.As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.THE THREAD
So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.These verses share קרא (qara, call) and צום (tsom, fast): the same Hebrew call-root and word for fasting. Jonah makes the scope explicit, describing the fast as reaching the whole city, from the greatest to the least.
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