What Does Jeremiah 15:16 Mean?
Your words were found, and I ate them; and your word became joy to me and the gladness of my heart, for your name is called upon me, LORD God of hosts.
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
Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts.THE KEY
God’s words become joy when they are eaten, and the name called over the one who receives them carries God’s nature into their identity.
THE MEANING
God’s words are taken in like food and become joy within your heart. The name called over you is more than a label; it marks your identity with God’s nature. The words you receive and the one whose name you bear meet in this confession.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This dissolves the belief that God’s words remain outside you as mere instruction: here they are eaten, become joy, and are joined to the name carried over you.
THE ROOT
וָאֹכְלֵם
va’okhlem
GROWS FROM
א־כ־ל
ʾ-k-l
to eat, consume
“ate them” in this verse is va’okhlem. The verse uses the ordinary verb for eating, so the words are received as food rather than left outside as sound. The same root names what is eaten, joining the act of taking in to what sustains the inner life.
ALSO GROWS
ʾokhel: food, nourishment
אֹכֶל
The food-word makes clear that the verse’s eating image is about taking in what sustains.
ma’akhal: food, edible provision
מַאֲכָל
This branch names what is consumed, linking the found words to inward nourishment.
דְּבָרֶיךָ
devarékha
GROWS FROM
ד־ב־ר
d-b-r
to speak; a word, matter, or affair
The Hebrew word-family holds speech and matter together: a davar can be a word or a matter. What is found is not detached sound; it is substantial enough to be taken in and become joy within.
ALSO GROWS
davar: word, matter, affair
דָּבָר
The same noun can name both what is spoken and the matter itself, giving the words substance in the verse.
dibber: he spoke
דִּבֵּר
This verbal branch connects the received words to the act of speaking that gives them voice.
נִקְרָא
niqra
GROWS FROM
ק־ר־א
q-r-ʾ
to call out, proclaim, or read
“called upon me” in this verse is niqra. The verb “is called” shares its root with calling out and reading aloud, so the name over the speaker is spoken and carried. Here, name (שֵׁם, shem: nature and identity) is more than a label; it marks the nature under which the speaker is known.
ALSO GROWS
qara: to call, proclaim, or read aloud
קָרָא
This branch connects being called by a name with a name spoken over someone.
miqra: reading or proclaimed assembly
מִקְרָא
This branch carries the same root into a spoken or read gathering, echoing the verse’s language of a name called over the speaker.
THE PATTERN
God’s word is received as inward nourishment, and its taste becomes life and delight.
And he said to me, Son of man, feed your belly, and fill your bowels with this roll that I give you. Then I ate it, and it was in my mouth like honey, sweet.How smooth are your words upon my palate, sweeter than honey to my mouth.But he answered and said, It is written, Humankind shall not live by bread alone, but by every word going out through the mouth of God.THE THREAD
And he said to me, Son of man, feed your belly, and fill your bowels with this roll that I give you. Then I ate it, and it was in my mouth like honey, sweet.Both verses use אכל (ʾ-k-l, “to eat”) for taking God’s message into the body. Jeremiah names the result as joy in the heart; Ezekiel makes the same movement tangible, with the scroll’s sweetness on the tongue.
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