What Does Jeremiah 47:7 Mean in the King James?
How can it be quiet, seeing the LORD hath given it a charge against Ashkelon, and against the sea shore? there hath he appointed it.
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 sword cannot rest because the LORD has assigned its violence a target and a place.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks into the reader’s desire for the violence to stop: the sword remains active while its command is still in force. Ashkelon and the seacoast are named as its field, keeping the devastation specific and concrete.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a plea for quiet means the violence has ended; the verse says the sword’s assignment is still active.
THE ROOT
יְעָדָהּ
ye'adah
GROWS FROM
יעד
y-ʿ-d
To appoint, designate, or set for a meeting.
The sword is not merely allowed to move; it is assigned to a specific place. The root also appears in מוֹעֵד (mo’ed), an appointed time or meeting, making the appointment feel fixed and particular.
ALSO GROWS
mo'ed: An appointed time, meeting, or festival.
מוֹעֵד
The shared root carries the sense of something set to meet at a designated time or place.
meyu'ad: Designated or assigned.
מְיֻעָד
This form names what has been allotted a particular role, as the sword is assigned its field here.
צִוָּה
tzivah
GROWS FROM
צוה
ṣ-w-h
To command or direct.
The English word “charge” can sound like a general duty, while the Hebrew verb presents a command in force. The sword’s movement belongs to a directive, not to an unexplained drift of violence.
ALSO GROWS
mitzvah: Commandment or command.
מִצְוָה
The same root names a directed obligation, showing the force carried by the LORD’s charge.
tzav: A command or precept.
צַו
This compact form makes the word’s direct, imperative quality visible.
תִּשְׁקֹטִי
tishqoti
GROWS FROM
שקט
sh-q-t
To be quiet, undisturbed, or at rest.
The question is whether the sword can cease its activity and come to rest. The verse answers that this quiet remains out of reach while its assignment is underway.
ALSO GROWS
shaqat: To be quiet or rest.
שָׁקַט
This verb names the cessation the verse asks about and denies for now.
shoqet: Quiet or resting.
שֹׁקֵט
This form describes the state the sword has not yet entered.
THE PATTERN
An assigned instrument carries judgment into a named field, keeping the violence concrete.
O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation.For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.THE THREAD
O thou sword of the LORD, how long will it be ere thou be quiet? put up thyself into thy scabbard, rest, and be still.Verse 6 voices the wish that the sword would stop; verse 7 answers that it cannot while its commission remains. The pair leaves the violence explicit: the sword’s rest is held off by an active command.
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