What Does Jeremiah 37:9 Mean in the King James?
Thus saith the LORD; Deceive not yourselves, saying, The Chaldeans shall surely depart from us: for they shall not depart.
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 certainty that the Chaldeans will leave repeats the Hebrew root for “go” twice, then the verse says they will not go.
THE MEANING
This verse speaks into the moment when wished-for relief becomes a confident forecast. The Chaldeans are not leaving; saying they surely will does not change what is unfolding. Its warning reaches any reader who mistakes a desired outcome for an established fact.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that saying the outcome you need is certain can make it happen.
THE ROOT
אַל־תַּשִּׁאוּ אֶת־נַפְשֹׁתֵיכֶם
al-tashiu et-nafshoteikhem
GROWS FROM
נשא
nasa
Lift, carry, bear
“Deceive yourselves” in this verse is al-tashiu et-nafshoteikhem. The Hebrew phrase uses the verb for lifting or carrying with “your living selves” in an idiom for self-deception. It pictures the self taking up a claim as though it were already true.
ALSO GROWS
massa: A load or burden
מַשָּׂא
This branch makes the image of taking up a claim concrete: a confident prediction can become something the self carries.
nasi: A leader or prince; one elevated
נָשִׂיא
This branch also carries the sense of being lifted up, echoing how a person can be raised into confidence by a claim.
הָלֹךְ יֵלְכוּ
halokh yelkhu
GROWS FROM
הלך
halakh
Walk, go
The Hebrew intensifies “shall surely depart” by putting the root for going in two forms: “going, they will go.” The same root returns under negation: they will not go, separating emphatic expectation from actual movement.
ALSO GROWS
halakh: Walk or go
הָלַךְ
This is the root verb; here, the Chaldeans’ movement is the very thing being confidently predicted and then denied.
halikhah: Walking or going
הֲלִיכָה
This related form keeps the idea of movement visible beneath the English “depart.”
THE PATTERN
A reassuring claim can promise an outcome that reality does not support.
Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, Peace; and there was no peace; and one built up a wall, and, lo, others daubed it with untempered morter:But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.THE THREAD
But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.Jeremiah names self-deception as confidently expecting an exit that does not happen. James describes the same structure: an inward conclusion can feel true while the reality of a person’s life tells otherwise.
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