What Does Jeremiah 15:19 Mean?
Therefore thus says the LORD, If you turn, then I will turn you back, and you will stand before my face. If you bring out the weighty from the worthless, you will be as my mouth. They will turn to you, but you will not turn to them.
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
Therefore thus saith the LORD, If thou return, then will I bring thee again, and thou shalt stand before me: and if thou take forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth: let them return unto thee; but return not thou unto them.THE KEY
The verse makes return a matter of direction: you are restored toward God, then become a mouth that draws the precious out of what is worthless without being pulled back into it.
THE MEANING
When you return, you are brought back to standing before God. The verse links that return with separating what is precious from what is worthless; through that discernment, you become a mouth for what comes from God. Others can turn toward you without your direction turning back toward theirs.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that being a mouth for God requires you to follow others back into their direction: they may turn toward you while your own direction remains toward God.
THE ROOT
תָּשׁוּב
tashuv
GROWS FROM
שׁוּב
Turn back or return; in the causative form, bring back or restore.
“If you turn” in this verse is tashuv. The repeated שׁוּב root makes Jeremiah’s return and God’s bringing him back one movement: turning and restoration are held together. The verse then sets a boundary, the others may turn toward him, but he does not turn back toward them.
ALSO GROWS
teshuvah: Return, turning back
תְּשׁוּבָה
This branch names the turning that begins the verse’s movement toward restored standing.
heshiv: Bring back, restore
הֵשִׁיב
This causative branch is the form behind “I will bring thee again,” showing restoration as return brought about.
תּוֹצִיא
totsi
GROWS FROM
יָצָא
Go out or come out; in the causative form, bring out or cause to emerge.
“bring out” in this verse is totsi. The verb translated “take forth” is causative: it makes the precious come out from the worthless. The same root names going out, so the sorting is an emergence from mixture, what is valuable is uncovered rather than manufactured.
ALSO GROWS
yetzi'ah: Going out, departure
יְצִיאָה
This branch carries the movement outward that is present in bringing something out from among other things.
hotza'ah: Bringing out, extraction
הוֹצָאָה
This causative form makes the verse’s action explicit: the precious is extracted from the worthless.
יְקָר
yeqar
GROWS FROM
יָקַר
Be precious, valuable, rare, or esteemed.
“the weighty” in this verse is yeqar. The precious is not merely what is dear; יקר describes what is rare, costly, and held in esteem. The separation in this verse is therefore an act of recognizing worth amid what has been degraded.
ALSO GROWS
yeqar: Worth, preciousness, honor
יְקָר
This noun shows the value that is drawn out from the worthless.
hoqir: Esteem, prize, treat as precious
הוֹקִיר
This related verb reveals the act of recognizing and holding something as valuable.
THE PATTERN
A restored voice emerges through return and discernment: what is precious is drawn out from what is degraded, then spoken from within.
The instruction of the LORD is whole, turning back the living soul; the witness of the LORD is steady, making the open ones wise.Scrape the dross from the silver, and a vessel comes out for the smelter.A good human brings out good from the good treasure of the heart, and an evil human brings out evil from the evil treasure of the heart, for from the overflow of the heart his mouth speaks.THE THREAD
I have surely heard Ephraim rocking himself thus, saying, You have trained me, and I was trained, like a calf untrained to the yoke. Turn me back, and I will turn back, for you are the LORD my God.The same שׁוּב root joins “return” and “bring thee again” here with “turn thou me, and I shall be turned” in Jeremiah 31:18. Together they reveal return as both a turning and a restoration brought about.
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