What Does Jeremiah 52:9 Mean in the King James?

Then they took the king, and carried him up unto the king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath; where he gave judgment upon him.

Jeremiah 52:9 · 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 KEY

A crown can be carried before a verdict: rank does not protect its wearer from being judged.

THE MEANING

The king is taken and brought before a ruler who judges him. Authority can change hands in a single movement, and rank does not place a person beyond accountability.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The verse undoes the belief that a title or position makes someone untouchable: even a king can stand under another’s judgment.

THE ROOT

מִשְׁפָּט

mishpat

GROWS FROM

שפט

To judge, decide, or govern.

The Hebrew phrase is structured as “he spoke judgment with him,” so the verdict arrives as an utterance between rulers. ⁨מִשְׁפָּט⁩ (mishpat) belongs to the family of judging and governing: one king renders judgment while the captured king becomes its subject.

ALSO GROWS

shaphat: To judge, decide, or govern.

שָׁפַט

This is the root action behind mishpat, linking a verdict to the act of making a judgment.

shofet: A judge or ruler.

שֹׁפֵט

The shared root connects ruling with judging, while the verse shows that a king’s rank does not exempt him from being judged.

THE PATTERN

No rank places a person beyond judgment.

A Psalm of Asaph. God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods.

Psalm 82:1 · KJVEven those called mighty stand within the reach of judgment.

The LORD will enter into judgment with the ancients of his people, and the princes thereof: for ye have eaten up the vineyard; the spoil of the poor is in your houses.

Isaiah 3:14 · KJVThe elders and princes are held to account for what they have done.

And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man’s work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear:

1 Peter 1:17 · KJVJudgment reaches each person without being swayed by status.

THE THREAD

The LORD therefore be judge, and judge between me and thee, and see, and plead my cause, and deliver me out of thine hand.

1 Samuel 24:15 · KJV

This verse uses the same root, ⁨שפט⁩ (shaphat), behind mishpat in Jeremiah. Here, judging is joined with seeing and pleading a cause; in Jeremiah, the captured king stands on the receiving side of that judgment.

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