What Does Jeremiah 51:5 Mean in the King James?
For Israel hath not been forsaken, nor Judah of his God, of the LORD of hosts; though their land was filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel.
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 calls Israel “not widowed” from God: guilt fills the land, but the bond has not been declared dead.
THE MEANING
This verse meets you where guilt seems to fill the ground: that condition does not make you widowed from God. It names what is wrong without calling the relationship over.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
My guilt means I am already abandoned by God.
THE ROOT
אַלְמָן
alman
GROWS FROM
אלם
ʾ-l-m
Bereavement; being left widowed.
The Hebrew word rendered “forsaken” means “widowed,” giving the verse an image of a bond bereaved, not merely a person left alone. The land’s guilt is not erased, yet Israel is not called bereft of its God.
ALSO GROWS
almanah: A widow; one bereaved of a spouse.
אַלְמָנָה
It makes explicit the bereavement image behind “forsaken” in this verse.
almanut: The state or reproach of widowhood.
אַלְמָנוּת
Isaiah 54:4 uses this word family for “the reproach of thy widowhood,” making the relationship image explicit.
אָשָׁם
asham
GROWS FROM
אשם
ʾ-sh-m
To incur guilt or become liable.
“sin” in this verse is asham. The verse names the land as filled with asham, meaning incurred guilt or culpability. The guilt remains in view even as the verse denies that Israel is abandoned.
ALSO GROWS
asham: Guilt, offense, or liability.
אָשָׁם
This is the word describing what fills the land; the verse does not conceal the wrongdoing.
asham: A reparation or guilt offering.
אָשָׁם
The same word can name both culpability and an offering associated with its repair, giving “sin” the weight of incurred guilt.
קְדוֹשׁ
qadosh
GROWS FROM
קדש
q-d-sh
To set apart; to mark as distinct.
“Holy One” in this verse is qadosh. The title names the God of Israel as the Set-Apart One. Israel’s guilt is named beside this distinctness, without the verse declaring the bond severed.
ALSO GROWS
qadosh: Set apart; sacred.
קָדוֹשׁ
This is the word behind the title “Holy One,” aligned with its sense of being set apart.
qodesh: Set-apartness, sacredness, or a sacred place.
קֹדֶשׁ
It shows how the same root can name both the quality of being set apart and a place marked by it.
THE PATTERN
A people’s failure can remain fully named while God’s relation to them remains unsevered.
For the LORD will not cast off his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance.How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee, Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim? mine heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together.I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.THE THREAD
Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more.Jeremiah’s “not forsaken” is framed as “not widowed” (אַלְמָן, alman, meaning “widowed”); Isaiah names the same wound as “widowhood” (אַלְמָנוּת, almanut, meaning “widowhood”). That shared root uncovers the relational image in Jeremiah’s sentence: guilt remains named, while abandonment is not the ending.
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