What Does Jeremiah 21:3 Mean?
Then Jeremiah said to them, Thus shall you say to Zedekiah.
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
Then said Jeremiah unto them, Thus shall ye say to Zedekiah:THE KEY
Before the message is given, the king’s name declares the measure that stands over every throne: YHWH is alignment.
THE MEANING
You meet the moment before the message is disclosed: speech is already moving toward the one who must hear it. Zedekiah’s name means “YHWH is alignment,” placing authority beneath a standard it does not create.
THE ROOT
צִדְקִיָּהוּ
Ṣidqiyyāhû
GROWS FROM
צדק
ṣ-d-q
To be right or just; alignment.
Zedekiah’s name joins the root צדק with a form of the divine name, carrying the claim “YHWH is righteousness.” English leaves that claim embedded in the king’s name; the same root becomes explicit in Jeremiah’s title, “THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.”
ALSO GROWS
tsedeq: Righteousness, what is right or just; alignment.
צֶדֶק
This is the root idea carried in Zedekiah’s name: rightness belongs to YHWH.
tsaddiq: A righteous or just person.
צַדִּיק
This branch shows the root describing a person in relation to what is right, rather than naming righteousness as an abstract idea.
tsedaqah: Righteousness or justice, including acts that put things right.
צְדָקָה
This branch gives the root a lived expression: alignment takes shape in what is done.
THE PATTERN
Scriptural names carry a claim about the nature or work bound to the one who bears them.
No longer shall your name be called Abram, but Abraham, father of multitudes, for I have set you as a father of many nations.And she will bring forth a son, and you will call his name Jesus, the LORD's deliverance, for he will deliver his people from their missing.And he led him to Jesus. And Jesus, fixing his gaze on him, said, You are Simon, son of John. You will be called Cephas, the rock.THE THREAD
In his days Judah shall be delivered, and Israel shall settle in trust; and this is the name by which they shall call him, THE LORD OUR ALIGNMENT.The name Zedekiah and the title “THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS” share the root צדק, meaning righteousness or alignment. The shared root makes the claim inside the king’s name audible in the title of the promised king.
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