What Does Jeremiah 50:5 Mean in the King James?
They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward, saying, Come, and let us join ourselves to the LORD in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten.
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
You ask for the way to Zion with your face already turned toward it: the turning begins before the route is known.
THE MEANING
Your search for Zion already has a direction: your face is turned toward it before the route is fully known. Joining the LORD is a shared act, and the covenant is a bond that endures through the age without being forgotten.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that you must see the whole route before turning: here, the face is already set toward Zion while the way is still being asked.
THE ROOT
פְּנֵיהֶם
peneihem
GROWS FROM
פנה
panah
To turn or face toward.
The word for face is connected to the verb for turning. Their search is already a movement of orientation: their faces are turned toward Zion while they ask for the way.
ALSO GROWS
panah: Turn, face toward.
פָּנָה
This verb makes the faces in the verse more than a gaze: they are turned toward their destination.
panim: Face, front, presence.
פָּנִים
The verse places the seekers’ faces toward Zion, making their direction visible before they know the route.
וְנִלְווּ
wenilvu
GROWS FROM
לוה
lavah
To join, attach oneself, or accompany.
“join” in this verse is wenilvu. The verse describes a people joining themselves to the LORD, not merely approaching a destination. This root also appears in Levi’s name, which Genesis connects with being joined.
ALSO GROWS
lavah: Join, accompany, attach oneself.
לָוָה
This verb names the joining that makes the journey a bond with the LORD.
Levi: Levi, a name linked in Genesis with being joined.
לֵוִי
The name echoes the same joining that Jeremiah describes as a shared covenantal act.
דֶּרֶךְ
derekh
GROWS FROM
דרך
darakh
To tread, step, or travel.
The word for a way or road grows from a verb for treading. The route to Zion is therefore a path made by movement, not merely an answer received as information.
ALSO GROWS
darakh: Tread, step, travel.
דָּרַךְ
The root makes the requested way a path that is walked.
derekh: Way, road, path.
דֶּרֶךְ
This is the route they ask for while their faces are already set toward Zion.
THE PATTERN
A turn toward God can precede full knowledge of the route and become a shared, lasting bond.
And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;THE THREAD
And she conceived again, and bare a son; and said, Now this time will my husband be joined unto me, because I have born him three sons: therefore was his name called Levi.The verb translated “joined” here grows from the same root as Jeremiah’s “join ourselves.” Genesis connects that joining with Levi’s name; Jeremiah extends the same idea from a household bond to a people joining themselves to the LORD.
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