What Does Jeremiah 50:36 Mean in the King James?
A sword is upon the liars; and they shall dote: a sword is upon her mighty men; and they shall be dismayed.
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 same sword falls on fabricated speech and human strength, placing both under the same judgment.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks now in the blunt image of a sword: the liars become foolish, and the mighty are struck and dismayed. It names lethal violence directly, placing deceptive speech and human force under the same judgment.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that a convincing lie or formidable strength can make its bearer untouchable is undone here: both stand within the sword’s reach.
THE ROOT
חֶרֶב
ḥerev
GROWS FROM
חרב
To become dry or desolate; to lay waste.
The Hebrew word for sword belongs to a word family associated with desolation and destruction. Repeated twice, it carries the force of the verse across both targets: the fabricated word and the people who claim strength.
ALSO GROWS
charav: To become dry or desolate, or to lay waste.
חָרַב
This verb shares the sword’s root and brings desolation into the word’s background.
charev: Dry or desolate.
חָרֵב
This related form echoes the ruin carried by the repeated sword image.
הַבַּדִּים
habbaddim
GROWS FROM
בדה
To invent, devise, or fabricate.
The word rendered “liars” is tied to fabrication: the lie appears as something made. The next clause says its makers become foolish as the sword falls upon them; their construction cannot secure them.
ALSO GROWS
baddim: Liars or fabricators.
בַּדִּים
This is the plural form used for the people named in the verse.
bādāh: To invent or fabricate.
בָּדָה
The verb shows the making hidden within the word for liars.
גִּבּוֹרֶיהָ
giboreha
GROWS FROM
גבר
To be strong or prevail.
“mighty men” in this verse is giboreha. The word names people by their strength and capacity to prevail, then says they are dismayed, shattered. The verse makes their might a description, not a guarantee of safety.
ALSO GROWS
gābar: To be strong or prevail.
גָּבַר
This verb carries the idea of prevailing that is built into the name for the mighty men.
gevurah: Might or strength.
גְּבוּרָה
This noun shows the strength associated with the same root.
THE PATTERN
Deceptive claims and human force cannot make their bearers immune from judgment.
A false witness shall not be unpunished, and he that speaketh lies shall perish.Thy men shall fall by the sword, and thy mighty in the war.Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.THE THREAD
A sword is upon the Chaldeans, saith the LORD, and upon the inhabitants of Babylon, and upon her princes, and upon her wise men.Both verses repeat חֶרֶב (ḥerev, sword). The image widens from the people, leaders, and wise men to the liars and mighty men, carrying the same destructive force across each group.
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