What Does Jeremiah 51:32 Mean in the King James?
And that the passages are stopped, and the reeds they have burned with fire, and the men of war are affrighted.
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 crossings are not merely closed but seized, so collapse reaches movement, cover, and the defenders’ nerve at once.
THE MEANING
The crossings are seized, the reeds are burned, and the men of war are dismayed. The blow reaches passage, cover, and armed strength together: the route is taken, the water’s edge loses its cover, and the defenders lose their nerve.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that armed force alone can secure a place: the men trained for battle are dismayed when the crossings are seized and their surroundings burn.
THE ROOT
נִתְפָּשׂוּ
nitpasu
GROWS FROM
תפשׂ
to seize, grasp, or capture
“stopped” in this verse is nitpasu. The verb does not describe a neutral closing: the crossings are taken into someone’s grip. The verse’s first blow is control of passage itself, before it names the burning reeds and dismayed fighters.
ALSO GROWS
taphas: to seize, grasp, or capture
תָּפַשׂ
This base verb shows that the passages are under another’s control, not merely unavailable.
nitpashta: you were caught or captured
נִתְפַּשְׂתָּ
Jeremiah 50:24 uses the same root of Babylon being caught, echoing the capture of its crossings here.
מַעְבָּרוֹת
ma’avarot
GROWS FROM
עבר
to cross over or pass through
The Hebrew word for the passages grows from the verb for crossing over. The route holds the act of moving through it, so taking the crossings means taking the people’s way through.
ALSO GROWS
avar: to cross over or pass through
עָבַר
The root names the movement that these captured routes once allowed.
ma’avar: a crossing or passage
מַעֲבָר
This related form names a place of passage, making the seized routes part of the same word-family as crossing itself.
eber: the other side, beyond
עֵבֶר
The root’s sense of crossing reaches even the far side, underscoring how passage connects one place to another.
נִבְהָלוּ
nivhalu
GROWS FROM
בהל
to alarm, dismay, or throw into sudden confusion
“affrighted” in this verse is nivhalu. This root carries sudden alarm and disorientation as well as fear. The verse leaves no intact military composure: the fighters are thrown into panic.
ALSO GROWS
bahal: to be alarmed or dismayed
בָּהַל
The root verb captures the sudden disruption in the warriors’ state.
behalah: terror or sudden panic
בֶּהָלָה
This noun from the same root gives the dismay a force that reaches beyond ordinary apprehension.
THE PATTERN
Movement in a crisis turns on whether the passage is held open, blocked, or seized.
And the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan, and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground, until all the people were passed clean over Jordan.And Amasa wallowed in blood in the midst of the highway. And when the man saw that all the people stood still, he removed Amasa out of the highway into the field, and cast a cloth upon him, when he saw that every one that came by him stood still.When they were past the first and the second ward, they came unto the iron gate that leadeth unto the city; which opened to them of his own accord: and they went out, and passed on through one street; and forthwith the angel departed from him.THE THREAD
And the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan, and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground, until all the people were passed clean over Jordan.Jeremiah’s מַעְבָּרוֹת (ma’avarot, crossings) and Joshua’s עָבְרוּ (avru, they passed over) come from עָבַר (avar, to cross or pass over). In Joshua the crossing stays open until everyone has crossed; in Jeremiah, those routes are seized. The shared root makes access itself the turning point.
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