What Does Jeremiah 5:18 Mean in the King James?
Nevertheless in those days, saith the LORD, I will not make a full end with you.
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 does not promise the absence of judgment; it draws a line beyond which judgment does not become your total erasure.
THE MEANING
Even when consequence is real, the LORD’s word places a limit on total destruction: you are not reduced to what is being brought to an end. The verse holds judgment and continued life in the same sentence, so an ending can be severe without becoming the end of everything.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that judgment means total erasure, that once something is broken, nothing remains.
THE ROOT
כָּלָה
kālāh
GROWS FROM
כלה
k-l-h
To come to completion or an end; in destructive contexts, to be consumed.
“full end” in this verse is kālāh. The Hebrew carries the sense of a complete ending, even consumption. The sentence holds that totality in view only to say it is withheld: what is happening can be devastating without consuming everything.
ALSO GROWS
kālāh: To finish, come to an end, or be consumed.
כָּלָה
This verb shows that “full end” reaches toward being completely finished, not merely interrupted.
kilyôn: Destruction or consumption.
כִּלָּיוֹן
This related noun names the root’s destructive reach; the verse says that reach does not become complete here.
THE PATTERN
Judgment can be severe without consuming everything; a remnant remains.
For thus hath the LORD said, The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end.For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return: the consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness.Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.THE THREAD
For I am with thee, saith the LORD, to save thee: though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee: but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished.Jeremiah 30:11 repeats the same Hebrew phrase for “full end” and places it beside correction in measure. The shared root makes the boundary precise: consequence remains, but it does not become annihilation.
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