What Does Jeremiah 44:13 Mean in the King James?
For I will punish them that dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence:
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 word rendered “punish” is וּפָקַדְתִּי (u-faqadti, “I will attend to” or “visit”), so Egypt’s narrowness cannot hide it from the same reckoning that reaches Jerusalem.
THE MEANING
This verse speaks to you now: moving into Egypt does not put you beyond the same visitation that reaches Jerusalem. Mitzrayim (מִצְרַיִם, Mitzrayim, “the two narrows”) and Yerushalayim (יְרוּשָׁלַיִם, Yerushalayim, “the two wholenesses”) stand under one sentence of consequence. The verse names that consequence plainly: sword, famine, and pestilence.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie this verse undoes is that moving into Egypt puts you beyond the reach of what falls on Jerusalem.
THE ROOT
וּפָקַדְתִּי
u-faqadti
GROWS FROM
פקד
Attend to, visit, muster, or appoint; here, to attend in judgment.
“punish” in this verse is u-faqadti. The root פקד (paqad, “attend” or “visit”) is broader than punishment: it can describe a visit that fulfills a promise or an accounting that exposes harm. Here, the visitation brings the named consequences of sword, famine, and pestilence.
ALSO GROWS
paqad: Attend to, visit, or muster.
פָּקַד
In Genesis 21:1, the LORD “visited” Sarah; the same verb can describe a visit that brings fulfillment, showing that the root itself means visitation, not punishment alone.
mifqad: Muster, numbering, or appointment.
מִפְקָד
A muster gathers people for account, echoing how the verse directly includes Egypt’s inhabitants in the reckoning.
paqīd: Overseer or appointed officer.
פָּקִיד
This title names someone charged with oversight, preserving the root’s sense of attending to those under one’s care or charge.
THE PATTERN
When visitation comes, it brings neglected duty or wrongdoing into account wherever people stand.
Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the LORD.Therefore now go, lead the people unto the place of which I have spoken unto thee: behold, mine Angel shall go before thee: nevertheless in the day when I visit I will visit their sin upon them.And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.THE THREAD
And the LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did unto Sarah as he had spoken.The same verb translated “visited” here comes from פקד (paqad, “attend” or “visit”), the root rendered “punish” in Jeremiah 44:13. Its visitation can bring the promised birth, and here it brings judgment through sword, famine, and pestilence.
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