What Does Jeremiah 52:26 Mean in the King James?

So Nebuzar-adan the captain of the guard took them, and brought them to the king of Babylon to Riblah.

Jeremiah 52:26 · 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.

THE KEY

“Brought” carries the sense of making them go: capture continues through control of their movement.

THE MEANING

The verse shows capture at the level of movement: people are taken from where they stand and made to go at another ruler’s command. The captor’s control reaches beyond possession to the direction of their bodies.

THE ROOT

וַיּוֹלִכֵם

wayyolikhēm

GROWS FROM

הלך

halakh

To go or walk; in the form used here, to lead or cause to go.

“brought them” in this verse is wayyolikhēm. The Hebrew verb translated “brought” is a causative form of ⁨הָלַךְ⁩ (halakh), “to walk” or “go”: he made them go. The root’s ordinary language of movement becomes the means by which their captor determines where they must go.

ALSO GROWS

halakh: To walk, go

הָלַךְ

This is the root’s basic movement, which the verse places under another person’s control.

holikh: To lead, cause to go

הוֹלִיךְ

This causative form makes the captor the one directing the captives’ movement.

THE PATTERN

Captive power becomes concrete when one person determines where another must go.

And Nebuzar-adan captain of the guard took these, and brought them to the king of Babylon to Riblah:

2 Kings 25:20 · KJVThe same capture is shown as a transfer into the king’s reach.

And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with part of the vessels of the house of God: which he carried into the land of Shinar to the house of his god; and he brought the vessels into the treasure house of his god.

Daniel 1:2 · KJVConquest moves people and sacred vessels into the possession and territory of another power.

As for Saul, he made havock of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison.

Acts 8:3 · KJVThe same pattern appears as people are dragged from their homes and committed to prison.

THE THREAD

And Nebuzar-adan captain of the guard took these, and brought them to the king of Babylon to Riblah:

2 Kings 25:20 · KJV

This parallel uses the same Hebrew root ⁨הלך⁩ (halakh), “go” or “walk,” in describing the captives’ movement toward the king. Jeremiah’s form makes the action causative: they are made to go.

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