What Does Jonah 3:7 Mean in the King James?

And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water:

Jonah 3:7 · 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

The king’s “decree” and the command not to “taste” share the Hebrew root ⁨טעם⁩, so the order reaches the mouth in the very word that names it.

THE MEANING

Here, authority takes bodily form: the command reaches what humans and animals consume. Its scope extends to every living mouth in the city, withholding food and water.

THE ROOT

טַעַם

ṭaʿam

GROWS FROM

טעם

To taste, sense, or discern; the word is also used for a command or decree.

“decree / taste” in this verse is ṭaʿam. Jonah uses the same three consonants for the king’s decree and for what the people and animals must not taste. The root’s range also connects tasting with discernment, making the mouth’s experience part of the verse’s language of perception.

ALSO GROWS

taste: To perceive with the palate.

The prohibition on tasting echoes the root used for the king’s decree.

discernment: Sense, judgment, or good understanding.

The root’s wider range lets tasting carry the sense of perception, beyond eating alone.

decree: A command or royal decision.

Jonah places this form of the root beside the command that forbids tasting.

THE PATTERN

Scripture uses tasting as a bodily form of perception, linking what the mouth receives with what is discerned.

Doth not the ear try words? and the mouth taste his meat?

Job 12:11 · KJVThe mouth’s tasting is paired with the ear’s testing, making bodily discernment explicit.

Teach me good judgment and knowledge: for I have believed thy commandments.

Psalm 119:66 · KJVThe Hebrew word translated “judgment” belongs to the same root family that includes tasting.

And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,

Hebrews 6:5 · KJVTasting reaches beyond food to the good word and the powers of the coming age.

THE THREAD

O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.

Psalm 34:8 · KJV

The Hebrew verb for “taste” here shares the root ⁨טעם⁩ with both “decree” and “taste” in Jonah 3:7. In Jonah, tasting is forbidden by command; here, tasting opens into perceiving the LORD’s goodness.

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