What Does Jeremiah 51:14 Mean in the King James?
The LORD of hosts hath sworn by himself, saying, Surely I will fill thee with men, as with caterpillers; and they shall lift up a shout against thee.
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 oath stakes the LORD’s own living self on a reversal where the city is overwhelmed by the very multitude that shouts against it.
THE MEANING
The LORD’s own living self stands behind the oath: the city is filled with people in locust-like numbers, and their cry rises against it. The verse speaks wherever power seems too vast to answer: its scale can become the condition of its overwhelm.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The false belief is that a domination becomes unanswerable once it grows large enough; here, the multitude that fills its space is the force that answers it.
THE ROOT
יֶלֶק
yeleq
GROWS FROM
י־ל־ק
Y-L-Q
Lick up, consume; the locust word is commonly linked to this consuming action.
The verse’s “caterpillers” evokes a locust swarm, a term linked to a verb meaning “lick up.” The comparison carries not only countless numbers but the image of a consuming mass that overtakes the city’s space.
ALSO GROWS
yalaq: Lick up, consume.
יָלַק
This verb makes the swarm an action: the people arrive like a consuming force, not like isolated bodies.
yeleq: Locust or cankerworm.
יֶלֶק
The insect name holds the image of a host that overtakes by sheer number and eating.
בְּנַפְשׁוֹ
b’nafsho
GROWS FROM
נ־פ־שׁ
N-P-Sh
The living self or life of a person.
The phrase translated “by himself” is literally “by his nefesh”, his living self or life. The oath rests on the LORD’s own being as its witness, not on an outside guarantee.
ALSO GROWS
nefesh: Living soul, person, or self.
נֶפֶשׁ
This is the living self named in the oath: the LORD swears by his own life.
nafash: Be refreshed or rest.
נָפַשׁ
This related verb keeps the root’s sense grounded in lived being; here, that living self is the oath’s guarantee.
אָדָם
adam
GROWS FROM
א־ד־ם
ʾ-D-M
Human; scripture links the human word with the ground, adamah.
The Hebrew word for “men” is adam, carrying a wordplay with adamah, the ground from which humanity is formed. The invading multitude is made of embodied human beings, not an abstract force.
ALSO GROWS
adam: Human being or person.
אָדָם
The city is filled by people, the human multitude whose shout rises against it.
adamah: Ground or soil.
אֲדָמָה
The wordplay between human and ground ties the multitude to earthly, embodied life.
adom: Red.
אָדֹם
This same consonant family keeps the word’s sound-shape concrete and earthy rather than abstract.
THE PATTERN
An oppressive power can be answered by a multitude whose gathering and voice make its reversal visible.
For, lo, I will raise and cause to come up against Babylon an assembly of great nations from the north country: and they shall set themselves in array against her; from thence she shall be taken: their arrows shall be as of a mighty expert man; none shall return in vain.And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God:THE THREAD
And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.The insect called “caterpillers” here is יֶלֶק (yeleq, locust or cankerworm), the same Hebrew word rendered “cankerworm” in Joel. There, the devouring swarm meets a promise of restoration, opening a movement from overwhelming loss toward what is restored.
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