What Does Jeremiah 39:9 Mean in the King James?
Then Nebuzar-adan the captain of the guard carried away captive into Babylon the remnant of the people that remained in the city, and those that fell away, that fell to him, with the rest of the people that remained.
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 verb for exile shares its root with uncovering, so removal here carries an edge of exposure, not just movement.
THE MEANING
When you are among what remains, this verse does not equate survival with safety: those left in the city and those who fall to the conqueror are both carried away. The remnant is still within reach of force; what survives is not automatically free.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that whatever survives a crisis is now secure.
THE ROOT
הֶגְלָה
heglah
GROWS FROM
גלה
Uncover or reveal; in the Hiphil form used here, cause to go into exile.
Here the Hiphil form means he deported them, so the violence of removal remains plain. The same consonantal root also names uncovering and being revealed, leaving exile with an exposure edge that “carried away captive” does not sound.
ALSO GROWS
galah: Uncover, reveal
גָּלָה
This form shares the root’s three consonants and keeps its exposure sense audible beside the verse’s deportation sense.
niglah: Be revealed, appear
נִגְלָה
This form also comes from גלה, showing that the root can name becoming exposed or visible.
נָפְלוּ
naflu
GROWS FROM
נפל
Fall, come down.
“fell to him” in this verse is naflu. The people described as falling to him are caught in the language of a fall, now turned toward allegiance or surrender. The English can make this sound like simple abandonment, while the Hebrew keeps the forceful image of falling to the victor’s side.
ALSO GROWS
nofel: Falling; one who falls
נֹפֵל
This participle shares the root and makes the verse’s image of falling visible.
nefilah: Fall, descent
נְפִילָה
This noun shares the same consonants and carries the physical sense beneath the verse’s political use.
הַנִּשְׁאָרִים
hannish'arim
GROWS FROM
שאר
Remain, be left over.
“remained” in this verse is hannish'arim. The verse repeats the language of what remains, then makes that remainder the object of deportation. The root names a residue, not a refuge: what is left can still be carried away.
ALSO GROWS
she'ar: Rest, remainder
שְׁאָר
This noun shares the root consonants and names what remains after something is taken away.
she'erit: Remnant, remainder
שְׁאֵרִית
This word carries the same root into the verse’s central image of a surviving portion.
THE PATTERN
A remnant is what continues through exposure; it can still be moved, bound, or pressed.
And now for a little space grace hath been shewed from the LORD our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in his holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving in our bondage. For we were bondmen; yet our God hath not forsaken us in our bondage, but hath extended mercy unto us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us a reviving, to set up the house of our God, and to repair the desolations thereof, and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem.The remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God.Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;THE THREAD
Take the millstones, and grind meal: uncover thy locks, make bare the leg, uncover the thigh, pass over the rivers.Jeremiah’s deportation verb and Isaiah’s “uncover” are forms of גלה. The shared root holds forced removal alongside exposure, making exile carry more than the sense of changing location.
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