What Does Jeremiah 48:42 Mean in the King James?
And Moab shall be destroyed from being a people, because he hath magnified himself against the LORD.
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
Moab’s self-enlargement becomes the reason it ceases to exist as a people.
THE MEANING
This verse speaks now with a severe truth: Moab’s self-exaltation against the LORD ends in its destruction as a people. The sentence binds the defiance to the loss of collective existence without softening either.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A people can make itself great enough to stand securely against the LORD. This verse says that self-enlargement does not place Moab beyond destruction.
THE ROOT
הִגְדִּיל
higdîl
GROWS FROM
גדל
To grow or become great; in this verb form, to make great or magnify.
The verse sets הִגְדִּיל (higdîl, “made great”) against the LORD with עַל (ʿal, “against”), making Moab’s increase an act of defiance. “Magnified” can sound like mere enlargement, while the Hebrew construction reveals self-exaltation directed against the LORD.
ALSO GROWS
gādōl: Great, large, or mighty.
גָּדוֹל
The shared root connects Moab’s act of making itself great with greatness itself, showing that the issue is where that claimed greatness is directed.
migdāl: Tower.
מִגְדָּל
A tower rises high; this branch gives the root’s sense of height and enlargement a concrete form, echoing Moab’s attempt to exalt itself.
gedullāh: Greatness or majesty.
גְּדֻלָּה
This noun names the greatness that the verb magnifies, bringing the verse’s contrast between claimed greatness and opposition into view.
THE PATTERN
Self-exaltation set against the LORD turns claimed greatness toward abasement and destruction.
Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day.For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.THE THREAD
Let them be ashamed and brought to confusion together that rejoice at mine hurt: let them be clothed with shame and dishonour that magnify themselves against me.Psalm 35:26 uses the same Hebrew root גדל (g-d-l, “grow or make great”) in the phrase “magnify themselves against me.” The repeated wording reveals self-enlargement against another as an act of opposition, illuminating Moab’s magnifying itself against the LORD.
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