What Does Jeremiah 52:17 Mean in the King James?

Also the pillars of brass that were in the house of the LORD, and the bases, and the brasen sea that was in the house of the LORD, the Chaldeans brake, and carried all the brass of them to Babylon.
Jeremiah 52:17 · KJV
The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

The pillars are named for standing, yet they are broken and carried away: even sacred architecture becomes movable cargo.

What seems fixed can be broken apart and taken away; the verse makes that vulnerability visible even around what is sacred. The pillars, bases, and bronze sea become cargo, and the loss is left plainly named.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

This undoes the belief that what is sacred is therefore beyond being broken or taken.

שִׁבְּרוּ

shibberu

GROWS FROM

שבר

To break or shatter.

“brake” in this verse is shibberu. The verse uses a word for breaking that reaches beyond damage to fracture and ruin. The temple’s bronze is not merely marred; its form is broken apart.

ALSO GROWS

shavar: To break or shatter.

שָׁבַר

This is the root verb behind the Chaldeans’ action.

shever: A fracture, breach, or ruin.

שֶׁבֶר

This branch gives the breaking a sense of breach and collapse, not a small repairable flaw.

עַמּוּדֵי

amudei

GROWS FROM

עמד

To stand or remain standing.

A pillar is an ⁨עַמּוּד⁩ (amud), something that stands. The sentence places that standing quality beside its opposite: the pillars are shattered and removed.

ALSO GROWS

amad: To stand or remain.

עָמַד

This is the action carried in the word for pillar.

ma'amad: A standing place or position.

מַעֲמָד

It extends the root’s sense from standing itself to the position something holds.

וַיִּשְׂאוּ

vayyis'u

GROWS FROM

נשא

To lift, bear, or carry.

This root keeps carrying close to lifting and bearing: the broken metal is treated as a load. The destination, Bavel (⁨בָּבֶל⁩, bāḇel, Babylon), echoes the wordplay in Genesis 11:9 with balal (⁨בָּלַל⁩, bālal, mix or confuse), adding a scriptural resonance to what is carried there.

ALSO GROWS

nasa: To lift, bear, or carry.

נָשָׂא

This is the root verb describing the removal of the brass.

massa: A burden or load.

מַשָּׂא

The branch makes visible the change from sacred fixture to something borne away.

nasi: A leader or prince; literally associated with one lifted up.

נָשִׂיא

It carries the root’s sense of being raised, while the brass in this verse is lifted as cargo.

Objects and structures associated with the sacred can be broken, removed, or carried away, leaving the loss plainly visible.

And the pillars of brass that were in the house of the LORD, and the bases, and the brasen sea that was in the house of the LORD, did the Chaldees break in pieces, and carried the brass of them to Babylon.
2 Kings 25:13 · KJVThe same pillars, bases, and bronze sea are broken and carried away, making the dismantling explicit.
They shall be carried to Babylon, and there shall they be until the day that I visit them, saith the LORD; then will I bring them up, and restore them to this place.
Jeremiah 27:22 · KJVThe temple vessels are carried away, while the verse names their eventual return.
As for these things which ye behold, the days will come, in the which there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.
Luke 21:6 · KJVEven the stones of a sacred structure can be brought down and scattered.
And the pillars of brass that were in the house of the LORD, and the bases, and the brasen sea that was in the house of the LORD, did the Chaldees break in pieces, and carried the brass of them to Babylon.
2 Kings 25:13 · KJV

Kings preserves the same paired actions: the pillars are broken, then the brass is carried to Babylon. What is shattered becomes what can be borne away.

Read the SDV Bible.

Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.

Get Selah Verse

The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.

Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us

Jeremiah 52:17 KJV Meaning