What Does Jeremiah 8:4 Mean in the King James?
Moreover thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD; Shall they fall, and not arise? shall he turn away, and not return?
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
Hebrew repeats one verb for “turn away” and “return,” making the difference a direction taken within the same motion.
THE MEANING
A fall does not settle a person’s direction: rising remains imaginable, and a turn away can still become a return. The verse holds open the question of whether that return happens or is refused.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Falling means there is no way back, or one turn away makes return impossible.
THE ROOT
יָשׁוּב
yāshūḇ
GROWS FROM
שׁוּב
shuv
turn, return, turn back
“turn away / return” in this verse is yāshūḇ. English makes turning away and returning sound like separate actions, but the Hebrew repeats the same verb. The direction changes; the motion remains one and the same.
ALSO GROWS
shuv: turn, return
שׁוּב
This verb is repeated in the verse, carrying both the turn away and the return.
meshūḇāh: backsliding, turning away
מְשׁוּבָה
Jeremiah uses this same root in the next verse for a turning away that persists.
hēshîḇ: bring back, restore
הֵשִׁיב
This form shows the root can also describe turning someone or something back.
יָקוּמוּ
yāqûmû
GROWS FROM
קוּם
qûm
rise, stand
“arise” in this verse is yāqûmû. The verse pairs falling with a return to standing. This root also forms words for raising or establishing, so rising can mean being brought back to one’s footing.
ALSO GROWS
qûm: rise, stand
קוּם
It is the root verb behind “arise,” the answering movement to falling.
hēqîm: raise up, establish
הֵקִים
This causative form carries the idea of making something stand, adding restoration to the image of rising.
THE PATTERN
A fall need not be the final movement: rising and returning remain possible after it.
For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief.Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD shall be a light unto me.And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.THE THREAD
Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return.The next verse uses “backsliding” and “return” from the same Hebrew root. The shared root makes the contrast visible: the turn away persists where the turn back is refused.
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