What Does Jeremiah 50:44 Mean in the King James?
Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan unto the habitation of the strong: but I will make them suddenly run away from her: and who is a chosen man, that I may appoint over her? for who is like me? and who will appoint me the time? and who is that shepherd that will stand before me?
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
Two Hebrew appointment roots divide authority in this verse: God appoints someone over her, while no one can set a meeting for God.
THE MEANING
A lionlike force rises from the swollen Jordan heights, and the verse does not soften its threat: God makes them flee suddenly. God appoints someone over her, then asks who can set a time for God or stand before him as shepherd. The verse places your sense of power under a claim no human ruler can schedule or overrule.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that the strongest ruler can dictate the outcome or set the hour when God must answer dissolves here: no chosen person can summon God to stand before them.
THE ROOT
יוֹעִידֶנִּי
yoʿideni
GROWS FROM
יעד
y-ʿ-d
To appoint, designate, or set a meeting.
“appoint me the time” in this verse is yoʿideni. The verb behind this phrase comes from יעד (y-ʿ-d), meaning to appoint or set a meeting; the Hebrew asks who can appoint or summon God, and the KJV’s wording brings out the implied time. The question reaches beyond who can issue a command: who can convene an encounter with the One who sets appointed meetings?
ALSO GROWS
moʿed: Appointed time, meeting, or festival.
מוֹעֵד
A season of encounter is itself something appointed, sharpening the question of who can appoint the One who sets it.
ʿedah: Assembly or congregation.
עֵדָה
An assembly is a people gathered for a meeting, echoing the root’s sense of convening.
אֶפְקֹד
ʾefqod
GROWS FROM
פקד
p-q-d
To attend to, visit, muster, or appoint.
“appoint over her” in this verse is ʾefqod. The verb for appointing someone over her comes from פקד (p-q-d), whose range also includes attending to, visiting, and mustering. The office is framed as an entrusted charge under God’s attention, with its authority flowing from the one who appoints.
ALSO GROWS
pequddah: Charge, oversight, or appointed service.
פְּקֻדָּה
This branch makes the appointed ruler’s responsibility sound like an entrusted charge.
mifqad: Muster or numbering.
מִפְקָד
Its sense of gathering and ordering people echoes the authority expressed in appointing someone over them.
רֹעֶה
roʿeh
GROWS FROM
רעה
r-ʿ-h
To feed, tend, or shepherd.
The Hebrew shepherd-word carries feeding and tending inside it, so the final question is about care as well as rank. It asks whether any ruler can hold that charge and stand before God.
ALSO GROWS
raʿah: To feed, tend, or shepherd.
רָעָה
The verb makes the shepherd’s work an active tending of those in their care.
mirʿeh: Pasture or grazing place.
מִרְעֶה
The pasture is where the shepherd’s tending becomes provision for the flock.
THE PATTERN
Even a force that rises like a lion remains under the authority of the One no human can summon or overrule.
None is so fierce that dare stir him up: who then is able to stand before me?The LORD bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought: he maketh the devices of the people of none effect. The counsel of the LORD standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations.THE THREAD
Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan against the habitation of the strong: but I will suddenly make him run away from her: and who is a chosen man, that I may appoint over her? for who is like me? and who will appoint me the time? and who is that shepherd that will stand before me?Jeremiah 49:19 repeats the lion-from-Jordan image and the same two appointments: God appoints someone over her, while no one can set a meeting for him. The repeated wording makes the question of who can govern her inseparable from the question of who can summon God.
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