What Does Jeremiah 11:3 Mean?
And say to them, Thus says the LORD God of Israel, Cursed is the man who does not hear and respond to the words of this covenant.
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
And say thou unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel; Cursed be the man that obeyeth not the words of this covenant,THE KEY
The covenant’s hinge is hearing that answers: the Hebrew verb behind “obeyeth” carries the movement from hearing to response.
THE MEANING
This verse places you before a covenant claim: its words call for hearing that answers. It names the one who refuses that response as cursed, giving the bond real consequence. Its force lands in the present where these words meet your life.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that hearing the words is enough even when the hearer refuses their claim.
THE ROOT
יִשְׁמַע
yishmaʿ
GROWS FROM
שמע
Hear, listen; where obedience is implied, hear and respond.
“does not hear and respond” in this verse is yishmaʿ. English “obey” names the action at the far end, while Hebrew names hearing itself. In this covenant setting, hearing is a response-bearing act, so the verse locates refusal where the words are not received as a claim.
ALSO GROWS
shemaʿ: Hear; listen.
שְׁמַע
The same root opens Deuteronomy’s “Hear, O Israel,” linking covenant life to hearing that answers.
shemuʿah: A report; news, what is heard.
שְׁמוּעָה
This branch names what reaches the ear; Jeremiah’s verb presses hearing beyond reception into response.
דִּבְרֵי
divrei
GROWS FROM
דבר
Speak; utter.
The word translated “words” belongs to a Hebrew family that can name both speech and a matter or thing. Covenant speech arrives as a concrete claim touching life, rather than as language floating apart from action.
ALSO GROWS
davar: A word; a matter or thing.
דָּבָר
The covenant’s words are also a matter to be reckoned with, not merely sounds or text.
dibber: He spoke; uttered.
דִּבֵּר
This verbal branch keeps the covenant’s words connected to active speech that addresses the hearer.
THE PATTERN
Covenant words become binding in lived response: hearing them and answering them belong together.
And it shall be, if you truly hear and respond to the voice of the LORD your God, to guard and to do all his commandments which I command you this day, that the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth.But be makers of the word, and not hearers only, miscounting yourselves.But he said, Rather, flourishing are those who hear and respond to the word of God and guard it.THE THREAD
Hear and respond, O Israel. The LORD our God is one LORD.Deuteronomy’s “Hear, O Israel” uses the same Hebrew root, שָׁמַע (shamaʿ, hear and respond), that Jeremiah renders “obeyeth.” The shared root links covenant hearing with response, while Jeremiah names the curse where that response is refused.
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