What Does Jeremiah 20:1 Mean?
Now Pashur the son of Immer the priest, who was also chief governor in the house of the LORD, heard that Jeremiah prophesied these words.
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
Now Pashur the son of Immer the priest, who was also chief governor in the house of the LORD, heard that Jeremiah prophesied these things.THE KEY
Prophecy reaches the official charged with the LORD’s house, but being heard by authority does not yet mean being received.
THE MEANING
The message reaches the person carrying oversight within the LORD’s house. In you, hearing marks the instant a truth comes into awareness; contact alone does not make it welcome.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Hearing a truth means you have already accepted it; this verse separates exposure from response.
THE ROOT
וַיִּשְׁמַע
wayyishmaʿ
GROWS FROM
שמע
Hear, listen, heed, or respond.
“heard” in this verse is wayyishmaʿ. The root שמע holds hearing close to attending and responding, though this form names the act of hearing. The next verse shows the gap between hearing the prophetic word and receiving it.
ALSO GROWS
shema: Hear and respond.
שְׁמַע
This branch makes audible the response carried within the Hebrew language of hearing.
shemuʿah: A report or news, something heard.
שְׁמוּעָה
The report that Jeremiah prophesied is itself something received by hearing.
פָּקִיד
paqīd
GROWS FROM
פקד
Attend to, appoint, visit, or take account.
“chief governor” in this verse is paqīd. The official’s title grows from a root of attending to and taking account. His role in the LORD’s house carries responsibility as well as rank, placing the prophetic word before someone charged with its oversight.
ALSO GROWS
paqad: Attend to, appoint, visit, or take account.
פָּקַד
The root links his office to attending to what has been entrusted to him.
pequddah: Oversight, charge, or appointed responsibility.
פְּקֻדָּה
This branch brings out the weight of the responsibility held by an official in the LORD’s house.
THE PATTERN
Hearing places a word before someone, but its arrival does not determine whether it is welcomed or resisted.
And the LORD came, and stood, and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel answered, Speak, for your servant hears and responds.And they, whether they hear and respond, or whether they hold back, for they are a rebellious house, will perceive that a prophet has been among them.But be makers of the word, and not hearers only, miscounting yourselves.THE THREAD
Then Pashur struck Jeremiah the prophet, and set him in the stocks that were in the high gate of Benjamin, which was by the house of the LORD.The next verse shows what follows Pashur’s hearing: he strikes Jeremiah and puts him in the stocks. The sequence makes the distinction plain, hearing brings the word near, but does not mean it has been welcomed.
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