What Does Jeremiah 6:23 Mean in the King James?
They shall lay hold on bow and spear; they are cruel, and have no mercy; their voice roareth like the sea; and they ride upon horses, set in array as men for war against thee, O daughter of Zion.
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 root that names the womb also names compassion, so “no mercy” is a refusal of tenderness at its source.
THE MEANING
The threat comes armed, mounted, and arranged against you; its roar is as overwhelming as the sea. The verse calls it cruel because it withholds compassion, and its order does nothing to soften that violence.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie this undoes is that a force becomes merciful because it is disciplined, numerous, or arranged for war.
THE ROOT
יְרַחֵמוּ
yerachemu
GROWS FROM
ר־ח־ם
r-ḥ-m
A root linking the womb with tender compassion and the act of showing compassion.
“have no mercy” in this verse is yerachemu. יְרַחֵמוּ (yerachemu) means “they will show compassion”; with לֹא (lo, “not”), the verse says they withhold it. The root also names the womb, giving their lack of compassion the sense of withheld tenderness, not merely withheld pardon.
ALSO GROWS
rechem: womb
רֶחֶם
The shared root makes compassion tangible as tender care, deepening what the attackers withhold.
rachum: compassionate, tender
רַחוּם
This adjective names the quality the verb denies: the attackers do not act with compassion.
rachamim: compassion
רַחֲמִים
This familiar noun preserves the same root meaning that English renders here as “mercy.”
יֶהֱמֶה
yeheméh
GROWS FROM
ה־מ־ה
h-m-h
To murmur, roar, or surge with sound.
“roareth” in this verse is yeheméh. This root describes both roaring and tumultuous noise, so the voice can feel like more than one loud speaker: it swells like a crowd or a sea. The comparison gives the threat a sound that fills the whole field.
ALSO GROWS
hamah: to roar, murmur, or make a tumult
הָמָה
This verb shares the sound-root of יֶהֱמֶה, making the voice’s roar feel like a rising disturbance.
hamon: tumult, multitude
הָמוֹן
This related word connects the roar with crowd-sized noise, illuminating the verse’s sea-like force.
THE PATTERN
Scripture uses a sea-like voice to make a sound too vast to be heard as one speaker.
Woe to the multitude of many people, which make a noise like the noise of the seas; and to the rushing of nations, that make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters!Which stilleth the noise of the seas, the noise of their waves, and the tumult of the people.And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.THE THREAD
And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God.Jeremiah uses the root ר־ח־ם (r-ḥ-m) for the compassion the attackers withhold; Hosea uses that same root when speaking of compassion received. The shared word makes the contrast concrete: compassion can be withheld, or given.
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