What Does Jeremiah 18:12 Mean?
And they said, There is no hope, for we will walk after our own plans, and each one will do the stiffness of his evil heart.
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 they said, There is no hope: but we will walk after our own devices, and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart.THE KEY
Despair does not leave them directionless: their own designs become the path they choose to walk.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks to the moment when hopelessness becomes permission to follow your own plans and the stubborn desire of your heart. What begins as inner counsel becomes a chosen course of action. The word rendered “imagination” carries the sense of stubbornness, a heart set on its own way.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie this undoes is: “If a path comes from my own heart, it must be trustworthy.” The verse shows that inner conviction can be stubbornly fixed even when it says there is no hope.
THE ROOT
שְׁרִירוּת
shrirut
GROWS FROM
שרר
sh-r-r
To be firm, hard, or stubborn; the noun carries the sense of obstinacy.
“the stiffness” in this verse is shrirut. The Hebrew word beneath “imagination” names stubbornness: a heart fixed on its own course. The phrase points beyond a passing thought to a settled insistence that acts as though its chosen way must be followed.
ALSO GROWS
sharar: to be stubborn or obstinate
שָׁרַר
The verbal form shows the fixed quality carried by the noun in this verse.
shrirut: stubbornness, obstinacy
שְׁרִירוּת
This is the word translated “imagination”; it makes the heart’s insistence part of the action, not merely a private thought.
מַחְשְׁבוֹתֵינוּ
machshevotenu
GROWS FROM
חשב
ḥ-sh-b
To think, reckon, or devise; to form a plan.
“our own plans” in this verse is machshevotenu. “Devices” belongs to the Hebrew family of thinking, reckoning, and planning, so the word carries the shape of a considered design. The “our” marks that design as their own, and the next verb turns it into a path they walk.
ALSO GROWS
chashav: to think, reckon, or devise
חָשַׁב
The verb shows that the “devices” are formed through thought and calculation.
machashavah: a thought or plan
מַחֲשָׁבָה
This singular form shares the seed of “devices” and makes clear that the word can hold both thought and intention.
נֵלֵךְ
nelekh
GROWS FROM
הלך
h-l-k
To walk or go; movement along a course.
The sentence gives their plans a direction: they do not only think according to their devices; they walk after them. In this word family, movement and a way of conducting oneself remain joined, so the inner design becomes the path taken.
ALSO GROWS
halakh: to walk or go
הָלַךְ
This is the basic movement named by the verb “walk” in the verse.
hithallekh: to walk about or conduct oneself
הִתְהַלֵּךְ
This related form joins movement with a pattern of conduct, echoing how the verse makes thought into a lived course.
THE PATTERN
What the heart takes as counsel becomes a path, and that path carries its own consequences.
Flourishing is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the way of those who miss the mark, nor sit in the seat of the scoffers.There is a way straight before a man, but its latter end is the ways of death.Because, having known God, they did not give him weight as God, nor did they give thanks; but they were made empty in their reckonings, and their unjoined heart was darkened.THE THREAD
For I know the plans I have for you, says the LORD, plans of wholeness and not of harm, to give you a future and a cord to hold.“Devices” here and “thoughts” there come from the same Hebrew root, חשב (chashav), meaning to think, reckon, or plan. The shared root opens a contrast in direction: thought can become a self-chosen course, while the LORD’s thoughts toward you carry wholeness and a future.
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