What Does Jeremiah 37:19 Mean in the King James?
Where are now your prophets which prophesied unto you, saying, The king of Babylon shall not come against you, nor against this land?
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 names the prophets and their prophesying with the same root, then tests their assurance against the event they said would not come.
THE MEANING
The verse places a confident promise beside the reality it denies and asks where its speakers are now. For the reader, a claimed word carries weight when what it promises meets what is unfolding.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a prophet’s title or confident assurance guarantees truth. A promise can soothe and still be exposed by the event it said would never come.
THE ROOT
נְבִיאֵיכֶם
nevi'ekhem
GROWS FROM
נבא
Prophesy; speak or proclaim prophetically.
“prophets / prophesied” in this verse is nevi'ekhem. The Hebrew repeats the same נבא (naba, prophesy or proclaim) root in “prophets” and “prophesied”: the role and the act share one seed. Jeremiah measures their pronouncement against the event they said would not come.
ALSO GROWS
navi: Prophet; one who proclaims a message.
נָבִיא
The title itself carries the root of prophetic speech, but the verse asks where these speakers are when their assurance is tested.
nibba: Prophesied; proclaimed prophetically.
נִבָּא
This is the action of the “prophets” in the same root, bringing their words directly under the question of whether they hold true.
nevu'ah: Prophecy; a prophetic utterance.
נְבוּאָה
The message itself grows from the same seed, linking the speaker, the act, and the claim being challenged.
יָבֹא
yavo
GROWS FROM
בוא
Come, enter, arrive.
“come against” in this verse is yavo. The reassurance turns on whether Babylon’s king will arrive against the people and the land. This same root can describe a predicted thing coming to pass, tying a prophetic claim to what actually comes into view.
ALSO GROWS
bo: To come or enter.
בּוֹא
The verse uses this root for the king’s arrival, making the denied event concrete.
mavo: Entrance; a coming in.
מָבוֹא
This noun carries the same movement into a place, echoing the force of a king coming upon the people and land.
THE PATTERN
A claim spoken as prophecy is exposed by whether its words meet reality.
When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.The prophet which prophesieth of peace, when the word of the prophet shall come to pass, then shall the prophet be known, that the LORD hath truly sent him.Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?THE THREAD
When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.Both verses use נבא (naba, prophesy) for the prophet and prophetic speech; Deuteronomy also uses בוא (bo, come or arrive) for whether the predicted thing comes to pass. The shared roots make Jeremiah’s question a test of arrival: where are the speakers when the event contradicts their words?
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