What Does Jeremiah 48:28 Mean in the King James?
O ye that dwell in Moab, leave the cities, and dwell in the rock, and be like the dove that maketh her nest in the sides of the hole’s mouth.
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
English repeats “dwell,” but Hebrew changes roots: settled habitation in Moab gives way to making a new abode in the rock.
THE MEANING
You hear a command to leave the cities and inhabit the rock, taking the dove’s nest at the cave mouth as the image of shelter. The refuge remains precarious: the nest sits at the opening of a hole, and the verse gives no promise that the danger has passed.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that established walls must be the safest shelter: it commands flight from the cities and refuge in the rock.
THE ROOT
וְשִׁכְנוּ
weshikhnu
GROWS FROM
שכן
sh-k-n
Settle, inhabit, make an abode.
The verb for dwelling in the rock comes from the same root as מִשְׁכָּן (mishkan, dwelling place or tabernacle) and שָׁכֵן (shakhen, neighbor or resident). The English repeats “dwell,” but the Hebrew shifts from the established inhabitants of Moab to taking up a new abode in the rock.
ALSO GROWS
mishkan: Dwelling place; tabernacle.
מִשְׁכָּן
Its shared root links the rock to the idea of a place where someone takes up residence.
shakhen: Neighbor; resident.
שָׁכֵן
A neighbor is someone who dwells nearby, extending the root’s sense from abode to the one who inhabits it.
יֹשְׁבֵי
yoshvei
GROWS FROM
ישב
y-sh-b
Sit, remain, settle, dwell.
“dwell” in this verse is yoshvei. The people are first named by the place where they are settled; then a different Hebrew root commands them to make their abode in the rock. English uses one word for both, hiding the change in habitation.
ALSO GROWS
moshav: Seat, dwelling, settlement.
מוֹשָׁב
It shows the root’s sense of an established place of residence, the dwelling the verse tells its hearers to leave.
yeshivah: Sitting, session, assembly.
יְשִׁיבָה
It preserves the root’s basic image of sitting or settling in a place.
THE PATTERN
When established shelter is abandoned, refuge may be found in the small cleft of the rock.
And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by:O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely.And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.THE THREAD
And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.The verb for taking up an abode in Jeremiah shares its root with the word translated “dwell” here. The same root joins shelter in the rock with dwelling among a people.
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