What Does Jeremiah 9:8 Mean in the King James?
Their tongue is as an arrow shot out; it speaketh deceit: one speaketh peaceably to his neighbour with his mouth, but in heart he layeth his wait.
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 verse exposes peace-language as cover for an ambush already placed within.
THE MEANING
Someone speaks shalom to a neighbor while planting an ambush inwardly. The speech borrows the language of wholeness, making the harm beneath it harder to see.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A courteous voice proves that a person means you well.
THE ROOT
שָׁלוֹם
shalom
GROWS FROM
שלם
sh-l-m
To be complete, whole, or made sound.
“peaceably” in this verse is shalom. The Hebrew phrase is literally “shalom he speaks”: he speaks wholeness. The same root reaches toward being whole and making good what is owed, so the greeting names a condition that his inward ambush betrays.
ALSO GROWS
shalem: Whole, complete.
שָׁלֵם
This branch shows that shalom means more than a pleasant tone; it names wholeness.
shillēm: To repay or make good.
שִׁלֵּם
This branch ties wholeness to what is made right, sharpening the contrast with the harm hidden beneath the greeting.
אָרְבוֹ
ʾorbô
GROWS FROM
ארב
ʾ-r-b
To lie in wait, conceal oneself for an ambush.
The “wait” is an ambush, and the speaker places it within himself. The root makes the hidden threat deliberate and positioned, not merely an unspoken feeling.
ALSO GROWS
ʾārab: To lie in wait or ambush.
אָרַב
This verb gives the action behind the inward trap.
ʾōrēb: One who lies in wait, an ambusher.
אֹרֵב
This form makes the concealed danger an active presence behind the speaker’s words.
מִרְמָה
mirmāh
GROWS FROM
רמה
r-m-h
To deceive or deal treacherously.
“deceit” in this verse is mirmāh. Mirmāh names treachery, not only a statement that happens to be false. Here the deceptive speech is part of the concealed attack: shalom is spoken while an ambush is set.
ALSO GROWS
rāmāh: To deceive or beguile.
רָמָה
This verb shows deceit as an act carried out through the speech.
remiyyāh: Deceit or treachery.
רְמִיָּה
This related noun carries the same treacherous quality that turns the friendly greeting into cover.
THE PATTERN
A mouth can offer one reality while the inward person prepares another.
The words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart: his words were softer than oil, yet were they drawn swords.He that hateth dissembleth with his lips, and layeth up deceit within him;O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.THE THREAD
Draw me not away with the wicked, and with the workers of iniquity, which speak peace to their neighbours, but mischief is in their hearts.The Hebrew uses shalom here too: they speak wholeness to their neighbors while carrying harm within. Jeremiah names that hidden harm as an ambush set inside the speaker.
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