What Does Jeremiah 39:4 Mean in the King James?
And it came to pass, that when Zedekiah the king of Judah saw them, and all the men of war, then they fled, and went forth out of the city by night, by the way of the king’s garden, by the gate betwixt the two walls: and he went out the way of the plain.
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 king whose name means “YHWH is alignment” still meets danger as a fugitive, leaving through the narrow seam between two walls.
THE MEANING
The name “YHWH is alignment” stands beside a king in flight: a title does not make a person invulnerable. When danger comes into view, even a ruler’s body searches for an opening; the route narrows through the royal garden and between two walls before reaching the plain. You see an exit from enclosure, though crossing a boundary does not yet mean safety.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that rank or identity guarantees protection. The king’s name speaks of alignment, while his body remains exposed to danger.
THE ROOT
צִדְקִיָּהוּ
Ṣidqiyyāhû
GROWS FROM
צדק
ṣ-d-q
To be right, just, or aligned; the name means “YHWH is righteousness,” with righteousness understood as alignment.
“Zedekiah” in this verse is Ṣidqiyyāhû. The name places alignment in YHWH’s nature, not in the ruler’s immunity. That meaning stands beside a king who is still vulnerable and fleeing.
ALSO GROWS
tsedeq: Justice, rightness, alignment
צֶדֶק
This root carries the alignment named in Zedekiah’s name.
tsedaqah: Justice, right action, alignment
צְדָקָה
The same root gives alignment a visible shape in how things are set right.
tzaddiq: A just or aligned person
צַדִּיק
The name’s root can describe a person in relation to what is right.
דֶּרֶךְ
Derekh
GROWS FROM
דרך
d-r-kh
To tread or step along; to beat a track.
Both routes in the verse use derekh: a way is something trodden, a bodily passage through space. The word keeps escape concrete, the king moves along a path from the garden and walls toward the plain.
ALSO GROWS
dārakh: To tread, step, or march
דָּרַךְ
This verbal form makes the way a course made by moving feet.
derekh: A road, route, way, or manner
דֶּרֶךְ
The verse uses this word for the physical route out and the way toward the plain.
וַיִּבְרְחוּ
Vayyivreḥû
GROWS FROM
ברח
b-r-ḥ
To flee or escape; to move away from danger.
“fled” in this verse is Vayyivreḥû. This root family also gives beriaḥ, a bolt or crossbar spanning an entrance. Flight and the bar across a gate share consonants here, making escape press against the image of a barrier.
ALSO GROWS
bāraḥ: To flee or escape
בָּרַח
This is the verb behind “they fled.”
berīḥāh: Flight, escape
בְּרִיחָה
The same root names the movement away from danger.
berīaḥ: A bar or bolt across an entrance
בְּרִיחַ
This branch brings the root of flight into contact with the gate that marks the route out.
THE PATTERN
An exit under pressure is a passage through a boundary, not an abstract promise of freedom.
And the city was broken up, and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between two walls, which is by the king’s garden: (now the Chaldees were against the city round about:) and the king went the way toward the plain.And Samson lay till midnight, and arose at midnight, and took the doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and went away with them, bar and all, and put them upon his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of an hill that is before Hebron.When they were past the first and the second ward, they came unto the iron gate that leadeth unto the city; which opened to them of his own accord: and they went out, and passed on through one street; and forthwith the angel departed from him.THE THREAD
Thus saith the LORD, which maketh a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters;The same Hebrew word, derekh, names the king’s route and the way made through the sea. One is pressed between city walls; the other crosses waters, so the shared root presents a way as a passage through obstruction.
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