What Does Jeremiah 23:22 Mean?
But if they had stood in my inner circle, and had caused my people to hear and respond to my words, then they would have turned them back from their harmful way, and from the harm of their deeds.
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
But if they had stood in my counsel, and had caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.THE KEY
Standing in God’s counsel is shown by its fruit: God’s words are heard, and people turn from the path of harm.
THE MEANING
The verse gives the reader a present test for any voice claiming God’s counsel: do God’s words become truly heard, and do they turn people away from destructive paths? Hearing is not the finish; God’s words reach life as a changed direction, away from harmful ways and actions.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A claim to speak for God can sound authoritative while leaving destructive ways untouched. This verse locates its credibility in what God’s words produce: people hearing and turning.
THE ROOT
וִישִׁבוּם
veyeshivum
GROWS FROM
שׁוּב
The root שׁוּב (shuv) means to turn or return; in its causative form, it means to bring someone back.
“turned back” in this verse is veyeshivum. The verb translated “turned them” carries the sense of causing them to return. The verse pictures God’s words changing a direction that has gone wrong, rather than merely naming what is wrong.
ALSO GROWS
shuv: Turn, return
שׁוּב
This is the seed verb: the movement is a change of direction.
meshuvah: Backsliding, turning away
מְשׁוּבָה
The same root can describe a turn away from the right path, showing that the return in this verse reverses a real departure.
heshiv: Bring back, restore
הֵשִׁיב
This causative form makes the verse’s movement relational: the people are brought back from their harmful way.
וְיַשְׁמִעוּ
veyashmiʿu
GROWS FROM
שָׁמַע
The root שָׁמַע (shama) means to hear, listen, and respond.
“hear and respond” in this verse is veyashmiʿu. The verse uses a causative form: the people are made to hear God’s words. In this passage, hearing leads into a turn, so the word is received as something that reaches conduct rather than stopping at sound.
ALSO GROWS
shema: Hear; hear and respond
שְׁמַע
This familiar form carries hearing toward response, matching the movement from God’s words to a changed direction.
shemuah: Report, news, something heard
שְׁמוּעָה
This branch names a message as something received by hearing, bringing the verse’s words into focus as a message meant to reach the people.
THE PATTERN
The reception of God’s word is shown by its turning people away from a harmful path.
The instruction of the LORD is whole, turning back the living soul; the witness of the LORD is steady, making the open ones wise.Therefore I will judge you, house of Israel, each according to his ways, says the Lord LORD. Turn, and turn yourselves from all your rebellions; so crookedness shall not be your stumbling block.But be makers of the word, and not hearers only, miscounting yourselves.THE THREAD
I have surely heard Ephraim rocking himself thus, saying, You have trained me, and I was trained, like a calf untrained to the yoke. Turn me back, and I will turn back, for you are the LORD my God.Jeremiah 31:18 uses שׁוּב (shuv, turn or return) twice in “turn thou me, and I shall be turned.” The return that God’s counsel should bring is voiced here as a turning the reader receives from God.
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