What Does Jeremiah 37:10 Mean in the King James?
For though ye had smitten the whole army of the Chaldeans that fight against you, and there remained but wounded men among them, yet should they rise up every man in his tent, and burn this city with fire.
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 verse separates being wounded from being rendered harmless: even a pierced remnant can rise and destroy.
THE MEANING
This verse puts the reader face to face with danger that survives visible defeat: the wounded are still able to rise from their tents and burn the city. Damage to an opposing force does not, by itself, mean its destructive power is gone.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a threat has become harmless merely because it has been badly wounded or reduced to a remnant.
THE ROOT
יָקוּמוּ
yaqumu
GROWS FROM
קום
q-w-m
To stand or rise; by extension, to be established.
“rise up” in this verse is yaqumu. The verb names renewed standing, not just continued survival. The men are described as pierced, yet the verse gives them the action of rising and burning the city: their visible wounds have not ended their capacity to act.
ALSO GROWS
qum: Rise, stand.
קוּם
This is the basic verb behind the men’s rising from their tents.
maqom: Place, a standing place.
מָקוֹם
This noun shares the root’s sense of standing; the verse turns those who seem incapacitated into people who regain their footing.
heqim: Raise up, establish.
הֵקִים
This causative form shows the root can describe bringing something to its feet or establishing it.
מְדֻקָּרִים
meduqqarim
GROWS FROM
דקר
d-q-r
To pierce or stab.
Under “wounded” is the more bodily picture of being pierced or stabbed. The sentence holds that injury beside the men’s rising, making their renewed capacity to destroy sharper than a general sense of weakness would.
ALSO GROWS
daqar: To pierce, stab.
דָּקַר
This verb names the action behind the wounded men’s condition.
meduqqar: Pierced; one who has been pierced.
מְדֻקָּר
This singular form makes explicit what the verse’s plural form says of the men: they are pierced, yet they rise.
נִשְׁאֲרוּ
nish'aru
GROWS FROM
שאר
sh-ʾ-r
To remain, be left over.
“remained” in this verse is nish'aru. The men are described as what remains after the fighting, but the verse does not leave them as passive leftovers. The same root appears in words for a remnant; here that remnant becomes the subject of rising and burning.
ALSO GROWS
she'erit: Remnant, remainder.
שְׁאֵרִית
This noun names what is left after loss, like the wounded men who remain among the army.
she'ar: The rest, remainder.
שְׁאָר
This form keeps the focus on what is left over; the verse makes that remainder consequential.
THE PATTERN
Being struck down does not by itself determine whether someone can rise again.
For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief.Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD shall be a light unto me.Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.THE THREAD
For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief.Jeremiah uses קום (q-w-m), “rise” or “stand,” for the pierced Chaldeans as they rise from their tents; Proverbs uses the same root for the just person who rises after falling. The shared verb names regained footing, while the surrounding words show how different that rising can be: destructive in Jeremiah, restorative in Proverbs.
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