What Does Jeremiah 13:15 Mean?
Hear and respond, and incline your ear; do not lift yourselves high, for the LORD has spoken.
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
Hear ye, and give ear; be not proud: for the LORD hath spoken.THE KEY
Pride is not merely feeling superior here; it is raising yourself above the very voice you are asked to hear.
THE MEANING
The LORD’s spoken word meets you now with a demand for attentive hearing, while pride lifts the self above what is being said. Hearing here reaches beyond sound toward receiving and responding.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
“I can remain above the word and still be truly listening.”
THE ROOT
תִּגְבָּהוּ
tigbahu
GROWS FROM
גבה
g-b-h
to be high, rise, or be elevated
“do not lift yourselves high” in this verse is tigbahu. The word translated “proud” carries the image of rising high. The verse sets that height against hearing: the self that lifts above the spoken word cannot receive it openly.
ALSO GROWS
gāḇōah: High, elevated
גָּבֹהַּ
It makes pride’s hidden image visible: the self is raised above what it hears.
gōvah: Height or elevation
גֹּבַהּ
It shows that the warning concerns a posture of being raised, not only an inward feeling.
שִׁמְעוּ
shimʿu
GROWS FROM
שמע
sh-m-ʿ
to hear, listen, and heed
“hear and respond” in this verse is shimʿu. The Hebrew root can hold hearing together with response. Beside “give ear” and “the LORD hath spoken,” it presents listening as receiving speech deeply enough for it to reach beyond sound.
ALSO GROWS
shemuʿah: A message or report that is heard
שְׁמוּעָה
The spoken word becomes something received through hearing, not just sound passing by.
hishmiaʿ: To make something heard; to announce
הִשְׁמִיעַ
It links the act of hearing to speech being made known, as this verse joins “hear” with “the LORD hath spoken.”
THE PATTERN
True hearing joins open attention with response instead of placing the self above the word.
Hear and respond, O Israel. The LORD our God is one LORD.Bend your ear and come to me. Hear and respond, and your living soul shall live. I will cut a covenant of the ages with you, the steady faithful loves of David.But be makers of the word, and not hearers only, miscounting yourselves.THE THREAD
Hear and respond, O Israel. The LORD our God is one LORD.Deuteronomy opens with the same Hebrew root, שָׁמַע (shamaʿ, hear and respond). Jeremiah makes the barrier plain: pride raises the self above the voice that hearing is meant to receive.
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