What Does Jeremiah 49:12 Mean in the King James?
For thus saith the LORD; Behold, they whose judgment was not to drink of the cup have assuredly drunken; and art thou he that shall altogether go unpunished? thou shalt not go unpunished, but thou shalt surely drink of it.
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 verse frames exemption as being “cleared”, then closes that possibility by making the cup unavoidable.
THE MEANING
The reader hears a stark address: those who seemed outside this cup have drunk, and you will not be cleared from it either. The cup does not remain at a distance; the verse says you surely drink it. Its repeated certainty leaves no room for presumed exemption.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that a consequence belongs only to other people dissolves here: even the one who assumed exemption drinks.
THE ROOT
תִּנָּקֶה
tinnāqeh
GROWS FROM
נקה
נקה (nāqâ) means to be clear, clean, or free of liability.
The English “go unpunished” gives the outcome, while נקה (nāqâ, be clear or free of liability) also carries the image of being left clear. The verse asks whether you will be cleared, answers no, and says you will drink the cup.
ALSO GROWS
nāqî: clean, innocent
נָקִי
This adjective names the condition of being left clear, the very condition the verse says will not be yours.
niqqāyōn: cleanness, innocence
נִקָּיוֹן
This noun keeps cleanness and freedom from liability in the same word family as being cleared.
מִשְׁפָּט
mishpāṭ
GROWS FROM
שפט
שפט (shāphaṭ) means to judge, decide, or govern.
The word for judgment grows from the verb “to judge” and shares its root with the person who judges. Here, judgment is not only a status or sentence: it is carried out as a cup that must be drunk.
ALSO GROWS
shāphaṭ: to judge, decide
שָׁפַט
The verb shows the action held inside “judgment”: someone decides and carries out a verdict.
shōphēṭ: judge
שֹׁפֵט
The person who judges and the judgment itself share the same consonants, joining the verdict to its source.
mishpāṭ: judgment, justice
מִשְׁפָּט
The verse’s word belongs to this family of judging and decisions, giving the cup the weight of a verdict.
THE PATTERN
The cup turns an appointed outcome into something fully received and undergone.
For thus saith the LORD God of Israel unto me; Take the wine cup of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it.For in the hand of the LORD there is a cup, and the wine is red; it is full of mixture; and he poureth out of the same: but the dregs thereof, all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out, and drink them.Then said Jesus unto Peter, Put up thy sword into the sheath: the cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?THE THREAD
Fear thou not, O Jacob my servant, saith the LORD: for I am with thee; for I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have driven thee: but I will not make a full end of thee, but correct thee in measure; yet will I not leave thee wholly unpunished.The same Hebrew root נקה (nāqâ, be clear or free of liability) appears in “altogether unpunished.” The verse holds presence and measured correction together, showing that being accompanied does not mean being cleared of every consequence.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us