What Does Jeremiah 16:13 Mean?
Therefore I will send you away from this land into a land that neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you shall serve other gods day and night, where I will not give you favor.
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 will I cast you out of this land into a land that ye know not, neither ye nor your fathers; and there shall ye serve other gods day and night; where I will not shew you favour.THE KEY
The exile’s deepest force is that unfamiliar ground becomes unbroken service to other gods while the LORD withholds favor.
THE MEANING
You are cast from the ground you know into what neither you nor those before you have known; there your days and nights are given to the service of other gods, while the LORD withholds favor. Loss of place, displaced allegiance, and favor withdrawn arrive together as one condition.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that displacement by itself means freedom: new ground can hold endless service to alien powers and no favor.
THE ROOT
וַעֲבַדְתֶּם
vaʿavadtem
GROWS FROM
עבד
ʿābad
work, serve, labor
English “serve” can sound only devotional, but the same root forms עֶבֶד (ʿeved, servant) and עֲבֹדָה (ʿavodah, labor or service), putting worship and labor in one word family. Paired with “day and night,” this service becomes an unbroken occupation of life.
ALSO GROWS
ʿeved: servant, slave
עֶבֶד
The servant is bound to the same root as serving these other gods, bringing the possibility of subjection into the word.
ʿavodah: labor, work, service
עֲבֹדָה
This branch makes the service sound like ongoing work, sharpened by the verse’s “day and night.”
יְדַעְתֶּם
yedaʿtem
GROWS FROM
ידע
yādaʿ
know, recognize, perceive
“have known” in this verse is yedaʿtem. The land is unknown to both you and your fathers, severing personal experience from inherited familiarity. Here, knowing by encounter gives the unfamiliarity a lived force: this is ground outside every known map.
ALSO GROWS
daʿat: knowledge, understanding
דַּעַת
This noun makes clear that the verse describes a break with what can be known or understood from experience.
yōdēaʿ: one who knows
יֹדֵעַ
The same root describes a knower; the verse places both you and your fathers outside that knowing.
חֲנִינָה
ḥănînāh
GROWS FROM
חנן
ḥānan
show favor, be gracious
The ending names what is withheld: favor itself. The verse sets ceaseless service beside the absence of graciousness, making the loss more than displacement alone.
ALSO GROWS
ḥēn: favor, acceptance
חֵן
This branch names the favor the verse says will not be shown.
ḥannûn: gracious, showing favor
חָנּוּן
This adjective describes the quality denied in the verse’s stark ending.
THE PATTERN
Whether through exile or exchanged allegiance, life under an alien power can be consumed by its service.
The LORD shall lead you, and your king whom you raise up over you, to a nation which neither you nor your fathers have known; and there you shall serve other gods, wood and stone.And they made their lives bitter with hard service, in clay and in brick, and in all the labor of the field; every service they made them serve was with crushing.who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and bowed down and served the creation beside the one who created, who is praised for the ages. Amen.THE THREAD
The LORD shall lead you, and your king whom you raise up over you, to a nation which neither you nor your fathers have known; and there you shall serve other gods, wood and stone.Deuteronomy places the same Hebrew roots together: ידע (yādaʿ, know or perceive) and עבד (ʿābad, serve or work). Their pairing shows that the unfamiliar land and the transfer of service belong to one movement: displacement reaches allegiance.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us