What Does Jeremiah 45:3 Mean in the King James?

Thou didst say, Woe is me now! for the LORD hath added grief to my sorrow; I fainted in my sighing, and I find no rest.

Jeremiah 45:3 · KJV

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 “added” makes the pain cumulative: grief is laid onto sorrow that is already there.

THE MEANING

The verse names a present anguish: the LORD adds grief upon sorrow, sighing wears you down, and rest cannot be found. It gives you language for pain that feels compounded rather than resolved.

THE ROOT

יָסַף

yasaf

GROWS FROM

יסף

yasaf

To add, increase, or do again.

“added” in this verse is yasaf. The verb names an increase: grief is laid onto pain already present. English preserves the act of adding but obscures the root shared with Joseph’s name, traditionally understood as “may he add.”

ALSO GROWS

hosif: He added or increased.

הוֹסִיף

This form makes the root’s sense of increase explicit: what is added here is grief upon sorrow.

Yosef: Joseph; a name associated with “may he add.”

יוֹסֵף

The name carries the same root of adding, linking the verse’s painful increase to a word English presents only as a name.

THE PATTERN

Scripture gives anguish room to name distress at full weight, including the absence of rest, without forcing resolution into the same sentence.

I am weary with my groaning; all the night make I my bed to swim; I water my couch with my tears.

Psalm 6:6 · KJVThe speaker names groaning, exhaustion, and tears without hiding the depth of the distress.

For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life:

2 Corinthians 1:8 · KJVThe verse speaks plainly of trouble beyond strength and despair, allowing anguish to be named without immediate resolution.

THE THREAD

And she called his name Joseph; and said, The LORD shall add to me another son.

Genesis 30:24 · KJV

“Added” here and “add” in Rachel’s sentence grow from ⁨יסף⁩ (yasaf), the root also carried in Joseph’s name. The shared root of increase appears with another object here: grief is added upon sorrow.

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