What Does Jeremiah 51:46 Mean in the King James?
And lest your heart faint, and ye fear for the rumour that shall be heard in the land; a rumour shall both come one year, and after that in another year shall come a rumour, and violence in the land, ruler against ruler.
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
In Hebrew, “rumour” and “heard” grow from שמע, so the report is what reaches the ear, while the heart’s fainting is a separate movement.
THE MEANING
You meet reports that return, while violence and competing rulers fill the land. The verse gives a distinction in the present: what you hear can arrive without your heart becoming faint.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that repeated alarming reports make inner collapse inevitable.
THE ROOT
שְׁמוּעָה
shemuʿah
GROWS FROM
שמע
sh-m-ʿ
Hear, listen, receive what is sounded or reported.
The noun for “rumour” and the word for “heard” in this verse come from the same root. The report is named as something received by hearing, while the heart’s response remains a distinct movement.
ALSO GROWS
shamaʿ: Hear, listen.
שָׁמַע
The report reaches the hearer through this root of hearing.
nishmaʿ: Be heard, become audible.
נִשְׁמָע
This form shows the report arriving as something heard across the land.
יֵרַךְ
yerakh
GROWS FROM
רכך
r-k-k
Become soft or weak.
“faint” in this verse is yerakh. The verse pictures the heart growing soft under threat, so faintness names an inner loss of firmness. The same Hebrew root appears in Isaiah’s phrase “neither be fainthearted,” joining this softening to fear amid political danger.
ALSO GROWS
rakh: Soft, tender, weak.
רַךְ
It gives the physical sense behind the heart’s weakening.
rakhakh: Grow soft, become weak.
רָכַךְ
This is the verbal movement the verse describes happening to the heart.
מֹשֵׁל
moshel
GROWS FROM
משל
m-sh-l
Rule, exercise dominion.
The Hebrew repeats the word for “ruler” in “ruler against ruler.” The violence is authority colliding with authority, disorder reaching the land through its seats of command.
ALSO GROWS
mashal: Rule, govern.
מָשַׁל
It names the action behind the ruler’s position.
memshalah: Dominion, government.
מֶמְשָׁלָה
It shows the broader realm of rule caught in the conflict.
THE PATTERN
Reports of upheaval and political conflict may recur without taking command of the heart.
He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the LORD.And say unto him, Take heed, and be quiet; fear not, neither be fainthearted for the two tails of these smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin with Syria, and of the son of Remaliah.And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.THE THREAD
And say unto him, Take heed, and be quiet; fear not, neither be fainthearted for the two tails of these smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin with Syria, and of the son of Remaliah.Isaiah uses the same Hebrew root for “fainthearted” that Jeremiah uses for “faint.” The shared root links a heart softening under a ruler’s threat with Jeremiah’s returning reports and ruler-against-ruler violence.
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