What Does Jeremiah 51:20 Mean in the King James?
Thou art my battle axe and weapons of war: for with thee will I break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdoms;
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
“Battle axe” and “break in pieces” come from the same Hebrew root: the weapon is named by the very action it carries out.
THE MEANING
The verse sets before you an instrument called God’s battle-maul and weapon of war; through it, nations are shattered and kingdoms destroyed. The repeated “with thee” keeps the instrument inside the violence, and the verse leaves that violence fully named.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that divine action is always gentle cannot stand beside this image: the verse explicitly names a maul and the breaking of nations and kingdoms.
THE ROOT
מַפֵּץ
mappēts
GROWS FROM
נפץ
To shatter, break apart, or scatter.
“battle axe” in this verse is mappēts. English makes the weapon and its action sound separate, but מַפֵּץ (mappēts, “maul”) and נִפַּצְתִּי (nippatsti, “I shatter”) grow from נָפַץ (nāphaṣ, “shatter, scatter”). The instrument itself bears the name of the shattering it carries out.
ALSO GROWS
nippatsti: I shatter or scatter.
נִפַּצְתִּי
This is the verb naming what the maul does in the verse, so the instrument and its action share a root.
tenappətsēm: To shatter them.
תְּנַפְּצֵם
Psalm 2:9 uses the same root for the blow’s result, making Jeremiah’s instrument and the act of shattering share one seed.
THE PATTERN
Scripture pictures divine judgment through instruments that carry destruction into the nations.
O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation.And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.THE THREAD
Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.The verb behind “dash them in pieces” is נָפַץ (nāphaṣ, “to shatter, scatter”), the same root behind Jeremiah’s “battle axe” and “break in pieces.” Psalm 2:9 makes explicit what Jeremiah’s wording compresses: the tool and its shattering action carry the same root.
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