What Does Jeremiah 48:7 Mean in the King James?
For because thou hast trusted in thy works and in thy treasures, thou shalt also be taken: and Chemosh shall go forth into captivity with his priests and his princes together.
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
What you trust to keep you secure can be caught up in the very captivity you thought it would prevent.
THE MEANING
Confidence can fasten itself to what you make and what you store, while both remain vulnerable to seizure. The scene is total: Chemosh, the priests, and the princes go into captivity together; wealth, worship, and authority share the same vulnerability.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that what you produce, accumulate, or rule can make you untouchable.
THE ROOT
בִּטְחֵךְ
bitḥēḵ
GROWS FROM
בטח
To feel secure; to trust or rely with confidence.
“trusted” in this verse is bitḥēḵ. The verse uses a word for trust from the same root that describes being secure. That connection lets the verse expose the gap between feeling protected and actually being beyond reach.
ALSO GROWS
beṭaḥ: Securely; in safety.
בֶּטַח
This branch names the security that trust assumes.
mivṭaḥ: Refuge; a source of confidence.
מִבְטָח
The root can describe both the act of trusting and what is treated as a refuge.
תִּלָּכֵדִי
tillāḵēḏî
GROWS FROM
לכד
To catch, seize, or capture.
“taken” in this verse is tillāḵēḏî. The wording is more vivid than a general loss: it describes being caught. Beside the word for trust, it makes the contrast between presumed security and actual vulnerability impossible to miss.
ALSO GROWS
lāḵaḏ: To capture or seize.
לָכַד
This active form names the force that takes hold.
nilḵaḏ: Caught or captured.
נִלְכַּד
This passive form shows the state of the one seized, as in the verse’s warning.
אוֹצְרוֹתַיִךְ
ʾōṣərōṯayik
GROWS FROM
אצר
To store up or treasure.
“treasures” in this verse is ʾōṣərōṯayik. The word belongs to a root about storing, so the verse names confidence in what has been accumulated and kept. That makes the warning reach beyond a single possession to the security built around holding onto things.
ALSO GROWS
ʾōṣār: Treasure; storehouse.
אֹצָר
The same word can name both valuable stores and the place that contains them.
ʾōṣēr: Treasurer; one who stores.
אוֹצֵר
The root includes the keeping of the goods as well as the goods themselves.
THE PATTERN
Accumulated wealth and power cannot shield those who rely on them from loss or captivity.
He that trusteth in his riches shall fall: but the righteous shall flourish as a branch.They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches;But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?THE THREAD
They stoop, they bow down together; they could not deliver the burden, but themselves are gone into captivity.Jeremiah’s phrase for Chemosh going into captivity and Isaiah’s “gone into captivity” share the Hebrew root גלה (galah), the language of exile. Isaiah sharpens the image: the idols people rely on cannot deliver the burden, and they themselves are carried away.
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