What Does Jeremiah 13:17 Mean?
But if you will not hear and respond to it, my living soul will weep in hidden places because of your swelling, and my eye will weep and run down in tears, because the flock of the LORD is led away.
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
But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride; and mine eye shall weep sore, and run down with tears, because the LORD’s flock is carried away captive.THE KEY
The root שמע holds hearing and heeding together, so the refusal to hear is already a refusal to respond.
THE MEANING
When you will not hear, sorrow gathers in hidden places and reaches the eyes. The verse joins pride to the loss of the LORD’s flock: what is carried away is not abstract, and the grief is real.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie this verse undoes is that refusing to hear leaves you untouched; the hidden weeping shows that the loss has reached the inner life.
THE ROOT
תִּשְׁמָעוּהָ
tishmeʿuhā
GROWS FROM
שמע
Hear, listen, heed.
“hear and respond to it” in this verse is tishmeʿuhā. The verb can name hearing that reaches into heed and response. So “not hear” is more than sound failing to reach the ear; it is refusal of a call to respond.
ALSO GROWS
shāmaʿ: To hear, listen, or heed.
שָׁמַע
This verb carries the same hearing that can become response.
shemuʿāh: A report or something heard.
שְׁמוּעָה
This branch shows what is heard becoming a message that can be received or refused.
תִּדְמַע
tidmaʿ
GROWS FROM
דמע
Weep; shed tears.
“tears” in this verse is tidmaʿ. The same root דמע names both the eye’s weeping and the tear it sheds. Grief unfolds as one continuous act: the eye weeps, and the tear falls.
ALSO GROWS
dāmaʿ: To weep or shed tears.
דָּמַע
This verb is the action of the eye in the verse.
demaʿ: A tear.
דֶּמַע
This noun names what falls as the eye weeps.
נִשְׁבָּה
nishbāh
GROWS FROM
שבה
Take captive; seize.
“led away” in this verse is nishbāh. The verb names seizure, so the flock is not merely traveling away; it is held captive. That makes the grief concrete: what is cherished is being taken from its place of belonging.
ALSO GROWS
shāvāh: To take captive.
שָׁבָה
This is the root verb behind the flock’s captivity.
shevī: Captivity; captives.
שְׁבִי
This noun names the condition into which the flock is taken.
THE PATTERN
In scripture, hearing reaches its meaning in response; refusal leaves a person exposed to rebellion and self-deception.
For this is a rebellious people, lying children, children who would not hear and respond to the instruction of the LORD.But my people would not hear and respond to my voice, and Israel would not have me.But be makers of the word, and not hearers only, miscounting yourselves.THE THREAD
To whom shall I speak and bear witness, that they may hear and respond? Behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot bend it. Behold, the word of the LORD has become to them a taunt; they have no delight in it.The same Hebrew root שמע (shamaʿ, hear and heed) governs both verses. The closed ear and the weeping eye reveal two sides of the same refusal: one will not receive the word, and grief gathers around what is being carried away.
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