What Does 2 Kings 17:40 Mean?
But they would not hear and respond, and they did according to their former manner.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Howbeit they did not hearken, but they did after their former manner.THE KEY
The verse’s sharp contrast is that refusing to hear does not stop action: the old pattern keeps governing what they do.
THE MEANING
You can hear truth and still find an old pattern directing what you do; sound alone has not yet become response. The verse names the split plainly: refusal to heed and continuation of familiar conduct happen together.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that hearing the right words, by itself, means you have answered them.
THE ROOT
שָׁמְעוּ
sham'u
GROWS FROM
שמע
Hear, listen, and heed in a way that calls for response.
“hear and respond” in this verse is sham'u. The Hebrew verb שמע (shama, “hear and heed”) reveals the gap inside the verse: they do not merely miss a sound; they fail to answer what they hear. Their old conduct continues in the space where hearing does not become response.
ALSO GROWS
shema: Hear and respond.
שְׁמַע
This command form shows the responsive sense of hearing that is absent here.
shemu'ah: A report, news, or something heard.
שְׁמוּעָה
It names what reaches the ear; this verse shows that receiving words does not itself change the pattern being lived.
מִשְׁפָּטָם
mishpatam
GROWS FROM
שפט
Judge, decide, and govern.
“former manner” in this verse is mishpatam. The word מִשְׁפָּטָם (mishpatam, “their order or custom”) comes from שָׁפַט (shaphat, “judge or govern”). What looks like a mere old habit is also an order they continue to enact.
ALSO GROWS
shaphat: To judge or govern.
שָׁפַט
The root gives their repeated conduct the shape of a governing order.
shofet: A judge or ruler.
שֹׁפֵט
This branch makes visible the rule carried by the “former manner” they keep following.
THE PATTERN
Hearing that leaves the old pattern intact has not become response.
They come to you as the people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear and respond to your words, but they will not do them; for with their mouth they show much love, but their heart walks after their cut-off gain.But be makers of the word, and not hearers only, miscounting yourselves.Why do you call me, Lord, Lord, and do not do what I say?THE THREAD
Hear and respond, O Israel. The LORD our God is one LORD.Deuteronomy 6:4 opens with שְׁמַע (shema, “hear and respond”), from שמע (shama, “hear and heed”), the same root behind “hearken” here. The connection exposes the gap: hearing reaches its full sense when it becomes an answer, while this verse shows the old pattern continuing where that answer is absent.
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