What Does Jeremiah 48:21 Mean in the King James?
And judgment is come upon the plain country; upon Holon, and upon Jahazah, and upon Mephaath,
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 verse takes judgment out of abstraction: mishpat reaches the level country and is pinned to three named towns.
THE MEANING
Judgment reaches a real region and its settlements; “the plain country” does not leave its impact vague. The names, Holon, Jahazah, and Mephaath, make the verdict particular and public. The verse speaks now with the weight of judgment that has reached the places it names.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that judgment remains abstract or safely distant: the verse names the ground and the towns it reaches.
THE ROOT
מִשְׁפָּט
mishpat
GROWS FROM
שָׁפַט
sh-p-t
To judge, decide a case, or exercise judgment.
English “judgment” can sound like only a sentence imposed from outside; mishpat also carries the act of deciding a case. The word holds both the verdict arriving and the authority behind it.
ALSO GROWS
shofet: Judge; one who adjudicates.
שֹׁפֵט
This branch shows the active role behind mishpat: judgment is rendered by a judge, not merely named as an abstract condition.
lishpot: To judge or decide a case.
לִשְׁפֹּט
The verb makes the root’s action visible: what comes upon the towns is a decision brought into effect.
הַמִּישׁוֹר
ha-mishor
GROWS FROM
יָשַׁר
y-sh-r
To be straight, even, or level.
English “plain country” sounds like generic scenery; mishor names level ground and belongs to the same consonant family as yashar, “straight” or “upright.” The sound-link holds terrain and straightness together, while the verse still points to a literal region.
ALSO GROWS
yashar: Straight, level, or upright.
יָשָׁר
Its shared root reveals the straightness and evenness carried inside the word for plain country.
mesharim: Equity or uprightness.
מֵישָׁרִים
This branch extends the root from even terrain to uprightness, a connection English “plain country” leaves hidden.
THE PATTERN
Judgment is not abstract: it reaches the world of named places, peoples, and deeds.
With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.Before the LORD: for he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth: he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth.For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?THE THREAD
And he shall judge the world in righteousness, he shall minister judgment to the people in uprightness.The Hebrew verb “judge” and noun “judgment” in Psalm 9:8 come from the same שפט (sh-p-t) root behind mishpat in Jeremiah 48:21. The Psalm shows the active judgment behind the word; Jeremiah shows it reaching named towns.
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