What Does Jeremiah 48:24 Mean in the King James?

And upon Kerioth, and upon Bozrah, and upon all the cities of the land of Moab, far or near.
Jeremiah 48:24 · 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.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

Distance from the center does not shield a city: the warning reaches every place, near or far.

The warning rests upon Kerioth, Bozrah, and every city of Moab, whether close or far. Distance does not remove a place from its reach.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The belief that a place far from the center, or left unnamed, falls outside the reach of judgment.

קָרוֹב

qarov

GROWS FROM

ק־ר־ב

q-r-b

Approach, come near.

The word for “near” belongs to the same root family as approaching and drawing near, and here it stands opposite “far” to span the whole map. Proximity offers no exemption: the warning reaches the named cities and all the cities between.

ALSO GROWS

qarab: Approach; draw near.

קָרַב

The root’s action of approaching echoes the verse’s concern with nearness, while showing that closeness itself does not place a city beyond the warning.

qerev: The midst; the inner part.

קֶרֶב

The same root reaches from nearness to what is within or among, resonating with the verse’s movement from named cities to all the cities of the land.

korban: A drawing near.

קָרְבָּן

This branch carries the root’s nearness into the idea of approach; here, the far and near are both within the scope of what is declared.

A judgment declared over a whole land reaches every place within it, near or far.

And the spoiler shall come upon every city, and no city shall escape: the valley also shall perish, and the plain shall be destroyed, as the LORD hath spoken.
Jeremiah 48:8 · KJVThe verse makes explicit what Jeremiah 48:24 compresses: every city is within the judgment’s reach.
Though they dig into hell, thence shall mine hand take them; though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down:
Amos 9:2 · KJVNeither the deepest nor the highest hiding place puts anyone beyond the reach described.
For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.
Luke 21:35 · KJVThe warning reaches all who dwell across the earth, extending the pattern beyond one land.
The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.
Psalm 34:18 · KJV

The Hebrew word translated “nigh” is qarov (⁨קָרוֹב⁩), from the same q-r-b root as “near” here. In Jeremiah, nearness does not shelter a city from judgment; in the psalm, the LORD is near to the brokenhearted.

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Jeremiah 48:24 KJV Meaning