What Does Jeremiah 51:41 Mean in the King James?
How is Sheshach taken! and how is the praise of the whole earth surprised! how is Babylon become an astonishment among the nations!
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 Hebrew makes the reversal physical: Babylon is caught, the earth’s praise is seized, and the celebrated city becomes waste.
THE MEANING
The verse holds acclaim and collapse in the same frame: what is called the praise of the whole earth is caught, and Babylon becomes an astonishment among the nations. Its force reaches the present: broad admiration does not make a power untouchable.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Universal admiration makes a power untouchable.
THE ROOT
וַתִּתָּפֵשׂ
vattittafes
GROWS FROM
תפשׂ
To seize, grasp, or take hold of.
The Hebrew verb behind “surprised” carries the sense of being seized. The verse pictures the earth’s praise as caught up in Babylon’s capture, not merely startled by it.
ALSO GROWS
taphas: To seize or take hold of.
תָּפַשׂ
This basic form makes the physical grasp within “surprised” visible.
vattitpesehu: She caught him.
וַתִּתְפְּשֵׂהוּ
In Genesis 39:12 the same root describes a hand closing on someone; here it gives the earth’s praise the same captured quality.
נִלְכְּדָה
nilkedah
GROWS FROM
לכד
To catch, capture, or ensnare.
“taken” in this verse is nilkedah. Babylon is not simply overpowered; the verb pictures it as caught. The same root returns in Jeremiah’s image of a snare closing around Babylon.
ALSO GROWS
lakad: To catch or capture.
לָכַד
This is the root action named when Sheshach is taken.
nilkadt: You are caught.
נִלְכַּדְתְּ
Jeremiah 50:24 uses this form for Babylon caught in a snare, making the capture here part of a repeated image.
לְשַׁמָּה
leshammah
GROWS FROM
שמם
To become desolate or appalling.
“Astonishment” can sound like only the nations’ reaction, while this Hebrew word also carries the image of desolation. Babylon itself becomes a waste that inspires horror.
ALSO GROWS
shemamah: Desolation or waste.
שְׁמָמָה
This noun shows the ruined condition contained in the verse’s description of Babylon.
shamem: To become desolate or appalled.
שָׁמֵם
The same root holds both the devastation and the shock it produces.
THE PATTERN
A celebrated power can be captured and become a public ruin.
Nevertheless man being in honour abideth not: he is like the beasts that perish.Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground: there is no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate.And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.THE THREAD
I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art also taken, O Babylon, and thou wast not aware: thou art found, and also caught, because thou hast striven against the LORD.Jeremiah 50:24 uses the same root, lakad, for Babylon being caught in a snare. Here that capture reaches the city’s praise too: even what the earth celebrates is seized.
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