What Does Jeremiah 16:15 Mean?
But the LORD lives, who brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands where he had thrust them, and I will bring them back to their ground, which I gave to their fathers.
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
But, The LORD liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers.THE KEY
The same LORD who drives the people into many lands promises to bring them back, so scattering does not erase belonging.
THE MEANING
The living LORD holds both movements: driving the people into dispersion and bringing them back to the ground named as theirs. Even when the scattering reaches many lands, it does not have the last word over their belonging or their return.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Being scattered means I am abandoned for good and no longer have a place that is mine.
THE ROOT
וַהֲשִׁבֹתִים
vehashivotim
GROWS FROM
שׁ-ו-ב
sh-w-b
turn, return, bring back
The Hebrew behind “bring them again” is the root שׁוּב (shuv), meaning “turn” or “return.” English can make this sound like a repeat of an earlier journey; the root shows a turning back from dispersion toward the place that remains theirs.
ALSO GROWS
shuv: to turn, return, or come back
שׁוּב
The verse’s promised return is a change of direction from distance toward home.
teshuvah: return or turning back
תְּשׁוּבָה
This related noun keeps the turning visible: being brought back is not only reaching a location, but reversing the movement away.
הִדִּיחָם
hiddicham
GROWS FROM
נ-ד-ח
n-d-ḥ
push away, drive off, banish
“had driven them” in this verse is hiddicham. “Driven” comes from נָדַח (nadach), a root of being thrust away or banished. Its branch נִדָּח (niddach), meaning “outcast” or “one driven away,” names the people by their displacement, and makes the promise to bring them back a direct answer to that condition.
ALSO GROWS
niddach: an outcast, one driven away
נִדָּח
Those far from home remain a named people whom the verse says can be brought back.
maddiach: one who entices or leads astray
מַדִּיחַ
The same root can describe being led away from a path, linking physical displacement with the possibility of turning back.
THE PATTERN
Scattering can be real and far-reaching without canceling the return that gathers people into their given place.
Then the LORD your God will turn back your captivity, and have compassion upon you, and will turn back and gather you from all the nations where the LORD your God has scattered you.And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of every land where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their pastures; they shall bear fruit and multiply.For you were as sheep wandering; but now you have turned back toward the Shepherd and Watcher of your living souls.THE THREAD
Then the LORD your God will turn back your captivity, and have compassion upon you, and will turn back and gather you from all the nations where the LORD your God has scattered you.In both verses, שׁוּב (shuv), meaning “turn” or “return,” describes the movement back from scattering. Deuteronomy repeats the root in “turn thy captivity” and “will return,” revealing that the return itself reverses the condition of being driven away.
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