What Does Jeremiah 41:17 Mean in the King James?
And they departed, and dwelt in the habitation of Chimham, which is by Beth-lehem, to go to enter into Egypt,
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
They rest beside the house of bread while aiming toward the narrow place, the stop is temporary, but its direction is already set.
THE MEANING
You can be in temporary shelter with your next step already aimed toward constriction. The verse makes the in-between visible: sitting down is not the same as arriving, and a place of provision can lie beside a route into narrowing.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that every move away from danger automatically leads toward freedom; the next destination can still be a narrowing.
THE ROOT
מִצְרַיִם
Mitzrayim
GROWS FROM
צר
ts-r
To be narrow, tight, or constricted.
“Egypt” in this verse is Mitzrayim. Mitzrayim carries the narrowness of tsar in a dual form: the name itself pictures constriction. The people are settled for a moment, yet their intended destination points toward the narrow place.
ALSO GROWS
tsar: Narrow, tight; also distress or an adversary.
צַר
It gives the destination a spatial sense of being pressed in.
metzar: A strait or narrow place; distress.
מֵצַר
It makes the constriction concrete: Egypt is named with the language of a tight passage.
Mitzrayim: Egypt; the dual narrow place.
מִצְרַיִם
This is the verse’s destination, carrying the root’s image into the journey itself.
גֵּרוּת
gerut
GROWS FROM
גור
g-w-r
To sojourn or dwell temporarily as a stranger.
“habitation” in this verse is gerut. The lodging is named with the language of a temporary stay. They have a place to sit for now, but the word does not suggest that they have reached a settled home.
ALSO GROWS
gur: To sojourn or reside temporarily.
גּוּר
It shows the stop as a pause along a journey, not its endpoint.
ger: A sojourner or stranger living among others.
גֵּר
The related noun keeps the sense of provisional belonging in view.
וַיֵּלְכוּ
vayelchu
GROWS FROM
הלך
h-l-k
To walk or go.
“departed” in this verse is vayelchu. The verse uses this go-root for their departure and again for their intended journey. Even while they dwell at the lodging, their movement toward Egypt remains unfinished and active.
ALSO GROWS
halakh: To walk or go.
הָלַךְ
The root describes movement, whether on foot or in travel.
halikhah: Walking or a journey.
הֲלִיכָה
It carries the same movement into the journey they still intend to make.
THE PATTERN
A route sought as refuge can lead into constriction, while release opens a way out.
And there was a famine in the land: and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine was grievous in the land.And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.THE THREAD
And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.Both verses name Egypt as Mitzrayim, carrying the root-image of narrowness. Here the intended route points into it; in Exodus, the way opens out of it toward a large land.
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