What Does Jeremiah 13:5 Mean?
So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the LORD commanded me.
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
So I went, and hid it by Euphrates, as the LORD commanded me.THE KEY
The hidden garment does not disappear; its concealment is already part of the revelation.
THE MEANING
This verse holds concealment and presence together: what is put out of sight remains part of what is unfolding. Its meaning does not depend on being visible now; a later uncovering can reveal what the hidden interval has held.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that what cannot be seen has ceased to matter dissolves here; hiddenness can make something consequential, not irrelevant.
THE ROOT
וָאֶטְמְנֵהוּ
va’etmenehu
GROWS FROM
טמן
To hide, bury, or conceal.
English “hid” can sound like mere removal from sight, but טמן names deliberate concealment or burial: the linen is placed where it cannot be seen, not erased. What is out of sight remains available for a later uncovering.
ALSO GROWS
ṭāmûn: Hidden, concealed.
טָמוּן
This form makes clear that hiddenness describes a condition, not disappearance; the garment remains present while unseen.
maṭmōnîm: Hidden treasures.
מַטְמֹנִים
The same root can describe what is buried as treasure, opening the possibility that something concealed carries meaning awaiting discovery.
THE PATTERN
Concealment is a live interval: what is hidden remains consequential until its meaning comes into view.
Then I went to the Euphrates and dug, and took the belt from the place where I had hidden it, and look, the belt was ruined, and it was good for nothing.For there is nothing hidden that will not be brought to light, nor has anything become hidden away, but that it come into the open.If you seek her as silver, and dig for her as for hidden treasure.THE THREAD
If you seek her as silver, and dig for her as for hidden treasure.Jeremiah’s “hid” comes from טמן (ṭāman), meaning “to hide” or “bury”; Proverbs’ “hid treasures” uses מַטְמֹנִים (maṭmōnîm), “hidden treasures,” from that same root. The concealed garment and buried treasure share a word-root: what is hidden can remain present, carrying meaning until it is uncovered.
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