What Does Jeremiah 48:43 Mean in the King James?
Fear, and the pit, and the snare, shall be upon thee, O inhabitant of Moab, saith 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
The Hebrew makes fear, a pit, and a snare sound like one tightening cascade of danger.
THE MEANING
You are addressed inside a tightening field: dread, a pit, and a snare all come upon you. The verse places inner alarm beside physical danger and entanglement, compressing them into one present threat.
THE ROOT
פַּחַד
paḥad
GROWS FROM
פחד
p-ḥ-d
To fear or dread; to tremble before danger.
“Fear” in this verse is paḥad. The verse stacks פַּחַד (paḥad, dread), פַּחַת (paḥat, pit), and פַּח (paḥ, snare): these are distinct words, not one shared root, but their repeated פ־ח (p-ḥ) sound binds terror to entrapment. English gives three separate threats; Hebrew lets them strike the ear as one tightening sequence.
ALSO GROWS
pāḥad: To fear or dread
פָּחַד
The verb shows fear as an active response to danger, while this verse presents dread as part of the threat pressing upon the one addressed.
mipḥād: Terror, dread; something feared
מִפְחָד
This related noun makes dread feel like a force one encounters, fitting the verse’s pairing of fear with a pit and a snare.
THE PATTERN
Entrapment closes in through linked dangers, so fleeing one threat can lead directly into another.
Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him.And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.THE THREAD
Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.Isaiah repeats the same three Hebrew words in the same order, with the same sound-cluster linking dread, pit, and snare. Jeremiah addresses Moab; Isaiah places that same sequence upon the inhabitant of the earth.
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