What Does Jeremiah 16:1 Mean?

And the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

Jeremiah 16:1 · SDV

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.

This verse in the King James

King James wording

King James Version

The word of the LORD came also unto me, saying,

THE KEY

The LORD’s “word” is davar: speech that can also name the matter itself, so the message arrives already touching what is happening.

THE MEANING

The LORD’s word comes as an address, not just as information to hold. It can meet you in the present and speak into the matter of your life.

THE ROOT

דְּבַר

devar

GROWS FROM

דבר

To speak; as a noun, davar can mean a word, matter, or affair.

English separates a spoken word from the matter it concerns, but Hebrew davar can hold both together. Here the word comes as speech that addresses someone and enters the matter at hand.

ALSO GROWS

dibber: to speak

דִּבֵּר

This verbal branch makes the word a spoken address, not merely an idea.

devarim: words; matters or things

דְּבָרִים

This branch shows how the same root can name both what is said and the matters words touch.

THE PATTERN

The LORD’s word moves toward encounter: it comes, draws near, and takes lived form.

After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, Do not fear, Abram. I am your shield, and your very great wages.

Genesis 15:1 · SDVThe word comes as direct speech that meets a person and speaks to what is before him.

But the word is very near to you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it.

Deuteronomy 30:14 · SDVThe word is not remote; it is near enough to be present in mouth and heart.

And the word became flesh and pitched a tent among us, and we beheld his weight, the weight as of the only-born from the Father, full of favor and truth.

John 1:14 · SDVThe Word appears as something embodied and dwelling among people, not as distant speech alone.

THE THREAD

But the word is very near to you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it.

Deuteronomy 30:14 · SDV

The word translated “word” here is davar, the same root in Jeremiah’s “word of the LORD.” Jeremiah shows davar arriving as speech; Deuteronomy shows that same word near, in mouth and heart.

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