What Does Jeremiah 48:12 Mean in the King James?
Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will send unto him wanderers, that shall cause him to wander, and shall empty his vessels, and break their bottles.
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 repeats a rare pour-and-tilt root, making the “wanderers” part of one image: Moab is tipped out, then its vessels are emptied and its jars smashed.
THE MEANING
The verse announces a forceful overturning: what Moab holds is tipped out, its vessels emptied, its jars shattered. The LORD sends the force that does this; release here carries the weight of judgment, not comfort.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Stability is not immunity from judgment: what has remained undisturbed can still be emptied and shattered.
THE ROOT
צֹעִים
ṣōʿîm
GROWS FROM
צעה
ṣ-ʿ-h
To tilt or pour out.
The unusual word translated “wanderers” echoes the verb that follows: the agents tilt Moab out. The verse then makes the image unmistakable with emptied vessels and smashed jars.
ALSO GROWS
ṣōʿîm: Pourers or tilters.
צֹעִים
The ones sent are named by the action they carry out.
wəhiṣʿāhû: And they will pour him out.
וְהִצְעָהוּ
The same root turns the agents’ name into their action against Moab.
יְרִיקוּ
yərîqû
GROWS FROM
ריק
r-y-q
To empty out or make empty.
“empty” in this verse is yərîqû. This root names the removal of what fills a vessel. In Genesis 14:14, a related form describes Abram drawing out his trained men, carrying the sense of pulling contents outward into this image of emptying.
ALSO GROWS
rēq: Empty or void.
רֵיק
The adjective names the state left when the contents are gone.
wayyāreq: He drew out.
וַיָּרֶק
In Genesis 14:14, the same root pictures men being drawn out, echoing the movement from contained to emptied.
וְשָׁלַחְתִּי
wəšālaḥtî
GROWS FROM
שלח
š-l-ḥ
To send forth, release, or let go.
“send” in this verse is wəšālaḥtî. The verse begins with shalach: the LORD sends the force that empties the vessels. Sending and release belong to the same root here, but the release takes the severe form of judgment.
ALSO GROWS
shillaḥ: To send away or release.
שִׁלַּח
This is the verb behind the familiar command “Let my people go,” where sending carries the sense of release.
shaliaḥ: One sent, an emissary.
שָׁלִיחַ
The word names an agent by the sending that commissions them, as the pourers are sent to carry out the action in this verse.
THE PATTERN
What a vessel holds can be forcibly released, and the vessel itself may not survive the emptying.
Moab hath been at ease from his youth, and he hath settled on his lees, and hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither hath he gone into captivity: therefore his taste remained in him, and his scent is not changed.Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.And no man putteth new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish.THE THREAD
Moab hath been at ease from his youth, and he hath settled on his lees, and hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither hath he gone into captivity: therefore his taste remained in him, and his scent is not changed.The Hebrew word translated “emptied” in this verse uses the same ריק (r-y-q), “empty out,” root that appears in verse 12. Verse 11 describes long stillness; verse 12 turns that same root into forced emptying and shattered jars.
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