What Does Jeremiah 38:8 Mean in the King James?
Ebed-melech went forth out of the king’s house, and spake to the king, saying,
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
Ebed-melech means “servant of the king,” and here that service takes the form of speaking directly to the king.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks now of service that does not stay silent: Ebed-melech goes out from the king’s house and speaks to the king himself. His name places him in the king’s service; his action carries speech into the king’s hearing.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that serving someone requires silence before them: here, the servant’s defining action is to speak to the king.
THE ROOT
עֶבֶד
ʿeved
GROWS FROM
ע־ב־ד
to work or serve
Ebed-melech means “servant of the king.” The root also carries the sense of work, so the name’s service is active: in this verse, it takes the form of going out and speaking to the king.
ALSO GROWS
ʿavodah: work, service
עֲבוֹדָה
This branch shows the active work held within the word “servant.”
ʿoved: one who works or serves
עֹבֵד
This form makes the root’s action visible in a person, as the name does here.
מֶלֶךְ
melekh
GROWS FROM
מ־ל־ך
to reign or rule
The name joins servant and king, and the verse repeats “king” as both the owner of the house Ebed-melech leaves and the person he addresses. The repeated word traces his movement from the king’s household into direct speech with the ruler.
ALSO GROWS
malkhut: kingship, rule
מַלְכוּת
This branch names the authority present in the word “king.”
mamlakhah: kingdom
מַמְלָכָה
This branch extends the root from the ruler to the realm shaped by that rule.
וַיְדַבֵּר
vayedabber
GROWS FROM
ד־ב־ר
to speak; word or matter
“spake” in this verse is vayedabber. The root links speaking with davar, a word or matter. Ebed-melech’s speech is not merely sound: it brings a matter into the king’s hearing.
ALSO GROWS
davar: word, matter
דָּבָר
This noun links speech to the matter being brought forward.
dibbur: speech
דִּבּוּר
This related noun names the act of speaking that the verse places before the king.
THE PATTERN
When speech must reach authority, someone crosses into its hearing and addresses the person who can act.
And afterward Moses and Aaron went in, and told Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness.Then Esther the queen answered and said, If I have found favour in thy sight, O king, and if it please the king, let my life be given me at my petition, and my people at my request:Then Paul, after that the governor had beckoned unto him to speak, answered, Forasmuch as I know that thou hast been of many years a judge unto this nation, I do the more cheerfully answer for myself:THE THREAD
My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have cast into the dungeon; and he is like to die for hunger in the place where he is: for there is no more bread in the city.The same word melekh (מֶלֶךְ, king) appears again as Ebed-melech addresses the ruler. Verse 8 shows him speaking; verse 9 reveals the matter he brings into the king’s hearing: Jeremiah’s treatment and the danger to his life.
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