What Does Jeremiah 17:24 Mean?
And it shall be, if you truly hear and respond to me, says the LORD, to carry in no burden through the gates of this city on the sabbath day, but to set apart the sabbath day, to do no work in it;
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
And it shall come to pass, if ye diligently hearken unto me, saith the LORD, to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the sabbath day, but hallow the sabbath day, to do no work therein;THE KEY
Here, hearing God becomes visible in what the city no longer carries through its gates.
THE MEANING
The verse gives response a visible threshold: no burden enters through the city gates on the Sabbath, and no work is done that day. Hearing God takes shape in what enters the day and what stops. The Sabbath is set apart through this concrete cessation.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that setting a day apart is only an inward attitude, untouched by what is carried or what work continues.
THE ROOT
שָׁמוֹעַ תִּשְׁמְעוּ
shamoa tishme'u
GROWS FROM
שמע
sh-m-ʿ
Hear, listen, heed; in this context, hear and respond.
“truly hear and respond” in this verse is shamoa tishme'u. The Hebrew intensifies “hearken” by pairing an infinitive with the verb: hear, truly hear. The response is made concrete in the words that follow: the burden does not pass through the gate, and work stops.
ALSO GROWS
shemaʿ: Hear!
שְׁמַע
This imperative shares the root and carries the sense of hearing that calls for a response.
shemuʿah: Report, tidings, something heard
שְׁמוּעָה
The same root names both the act of hearing and what is received through hearing.
מַשָּׂא
massa
GROWS FROM
נָשָׂא
n-ś-ʾ
Lift, carry, bear.
The word for “burden” grows from the verb “to carry.” Here the verse gives that burden a route: it is not brought through the city gates on the Sabbath.
ALSO GROWS
nasa: Lift, carry, bear
נָשָׂא
The verb names the carrying that the verse says must stop at the gate.
nasi: Leader, prince; one elevated
נָשִׂיא
This related form shares the idea of being lifted, showing how the root extends from carrying a load to being raised up.
שַׁבָּת
shabbat
GROWS FROM
שָׁבַת
sh-v-t
Cease, stop, desist.
The Sabbath’s name carries cessation in its root. The verse makes that cessation tangible: burdens do not cross the gate, and work is not done.
ALSO GROWS
shavat: Cease, stop
שָׁבַת
This verb names the stopping that gives the Sabbath its character.
shabbaton: Complete rest, Sabbath observance
שַׁבָּתוֹן
This related form extends the root’s cessation into a period of rest.
THE PATTERN
The Sabbath becomes visible when work ceases and the day is set apart as a gift for human life.
And on the seventh day God finished his work which he had made, and he stopped on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall not do any work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your livestock, nor your sojourner who is within your gates.He said to them, The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.THE THREAD
Thus says the LORD, Guard your living souls, and do not lift a burden on the sabbath day, nor carry it in through the gates of Jerusalem.The same word מַשָּׂא (massa, burden) appears alongside the Sabbath and Jerusalem’s gates. The repeated root makes the boundary concrete: the instruction is visible in what the city carries across it.
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