What Does Jeremiah 51:63 Mean in the King James?
And it shall be, when thou hast made an end of reading this book, that thou shalt bind a stone to it, and cast it into the midst of Euphrates:
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 prophecy is not only read to its end; it is given a stone’s weight and made to sink as Babylon’s fate.
THE MEANING
A word reaches its end, then receives weight and a destination: the scroll is bound to a stone and cast into the Euphrates. Its descent makes judgment visible, carrying the written message beneath the surface as Babylon’s sinking is declared.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that words of judgment are weightless or merely spoken: here the scroll receives a stone and is made to sink.
THE ROOT
לִקְרֹא
liqro
GROWS FROM
קרא
קרא (qara): to call, summon, or proclaim; the verb also means to read aloud.
The act translated “reading” belongs to the same root as calling aloud and summoning. The scroll’s words are voiced to completion, then the scroll itself carries that completed proclamation into the river.
ALSO GROWS
qara: called, summoned, or proclaimed
קָרָא
This shared root lets reading carry the shade of calling words aloud, rather than only looking at marks on a page.
miqra: reading, proclamation, or convocation
מִקְרָא
This noun from קרא links a reading with a public summons, fitting a scroll whose words are spoken before its sign is enacted.
הַסֵּפֶר
ha-sefer
GROWS FROM
ספר
ספר (safar): to count, recount, or relate.
“book” in this verse is ha-sefer. The word for the scroll belongs to the same consonantal family as counting and recounting. The text is an account brought to its end before the stone-bound scroll is cast away.
ALSO GROWS
safar: to count or recount
סָפַר
This verb shares the root and gives the book the sense of a record whose telling has been completed.
sofer: scribe or recorder
סֹפֵר
The scribe is one who records or recounts; the scroll in the verse is the written form of that account.
וְהִשְׁלַכְתּוֹ
ve-hishlikhto
GROWS FROM
שלך
שלך (shalakh): to throw or cast.
“cast” in this verse is ve-hishlikhto. This verb names a forceful casting, not simply a departure. The stone gives the scroll weight as it is thrown into the river, making its descent part of the sign.
ALSO GROWS
hishlikh: he threw or cast
הִשְׁלִיךְ
This verb shares the root and shows the forceful action contained in the verse’s “cast.”
hashlakhah: throwing or casting
הַשְׁלָכָה
This noun from the same root names the act itself, holding attention on the scroll’s deliberate descent.
THE PATTERN
A spoken judgment becomes visible through an enacted sign whose physical fate mirrors its announced outcome.
And shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaketh a potter’s vessel, that cannot be made whole again: and they shall bury them in Tophet, till there be no place to bury.Say, I am your sign: like as I have done, so shall it be done unto them: they shall remove and go into captivity.And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all.THE THREAD
And thou shalt say, Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise from the evil that I will bring upon her: and they shall be weary. Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.The next verse names the meaning of the enacted sign: as the scroll sinks in the Euphrates, so Babylon sinks and does not rise. What 51:63 performs with stone and river, 51:64 states in words.
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