What Does Jeremiah 21:1 Mean?
The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, when King Zedekiah sent to him Pashur the son of Melchiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, saying,
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
The word which came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, when king Zedekiah sent unto him Pashur the son of Melchiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, saying,THE KEY
Zedekiah’s name locates alignment in the LORD, so even the throne bearing it approaches a word it did not originate.
THE MEANING
Zedekiah’s name locates alignment in the LORD, and the king’s representatives approach a word already present with Jeremiah. The authority in the scene asks for what it cannot originate. The verse ends at “saying,” leaving the request just beyond hearing.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that rank creates the truth it seeks: the king’s name points to alignment in the LORD, and the word is already present before his envoys arrive.
THE ROOT
צִדְקִיָּהוּ
Tsidqiyyahu
GROWS FROM
צדק
To be right or just; to be aligned.
“Zedekiah” in this verse is Tsidqiyyahu. His name means “the LORD is righteousness,” placing alignment in the LORD rather than in the office of the king. The throne bearing this name approaches the word of the LORD, and the name itself points beyond its authority.
ALSO GROWS
tsedeq: Rightness, justice, alignment.
צֶדֶק
This is the alignment compressed into the king’s name.
tsaddiq: A just or aligned person.
צַדִּיק
The branch makes rightness a quality of a person, not merely a title or position.
שָׁלַח
Shalach
GROWS FROM
שלח
To send forth, release, or let go.
“sent” in this verse is Shalach. The king’s envoys are defined by an act of sending. The same root can carry release, so the verse’s ordinary dispatch touches a larger scriptural movement from constriction toward spaciousness.
ALSO GROWS
shaliach: A messenger or emissary; one who is sent.
שָׁלִיחַ
The king’s representatives embody the sending act: they carry another’s message and authority.
Shiloach: Sent forth; the name of the waters of Shiloah.
שִׁלֹחַ
The name preserves sending as movement of waters, a branch connected with restored sight in the pool of Siloam.
דְּבַר
Devar
GROWS FROM
דבר
To speak; a word, matter, or thing.
English can make “word” sound like a sentence alone, while Hebrew also holds the matter or thing within it. Here the LORD’s word is a living matter already present before the ruler’s representatives arrive.
ALSO GROWS
davar: A word, matter, or thing.
דָּבָר
Speech and the matter spoken of remain joined in one word.
dibber: He spoke.
דִּבֵּר
The spoken word is active speech, not merely an item of information.
THE PATTERN
Human authority and speech answer to a power and word they do not originate.
The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, as channels of waters; he bends it wherever he delights.The lion has roared; who will not fear? The Lord GOD has spoken; who will not prophesy?Jesus answered, You would have no authority at all against me, unless it had been given you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you has a greater shortcoming.THE THREAD
And afterward Moses and Aaron went in and told the Great House, Thus says the LORD God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may dance a feast to me in the wilderness.The “sent” here and Exodus 5:1’s “Let my people go” share שָׁלַח (shalach: send forth, release). The same root holds dispatch and release together, so this king’s sending opens onto scripture’s larger movement from constriction toward spaciousness.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
You can read any verse this way in the app, keep it as a card, and send it on.
A Bible app where you send verses from your keyboard and in Messages, and every verse has a Deep Dive.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us