What Does Jeremiah 27:18 Mean?
But if they are prophets, and if the word of the LORD is with them, let them now go and meet the LORD of hosts in pleading, so that the vessels left in the house of the LORD, and in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem, do not come to Babylon.
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 be prophets, and if the word of the LORD be with them, let them now make intercession to the LORD of hosts, that the vessels which are left in the house of the LORD, and in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem, go not to Babylon.THE KEY
The Hebrew makes intercession an encounter: a word from the LORD presses the prophet into God’s presence on behalf of what is in danger.
THE MEANING
A word claimed to be from the LORD enters the threatened matter as an appeal to the LORD of hosts. The danger is concrete: the vessels remaining in the LORD’s house, the king’s house, and Jerusalem may be carried to Babylon, and the intercession asks that they remain.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The claim this undoes is that prophetic authority proves itself by declaration alone; here its test is whether the prophet appeals to God for what is in danger.
THE ROOT
יִפְגְּעוּ־נָא
yifge'u-na
GROWS FROM
פגע
Meet, encounter, or reach; by extension, entreat or intercede.
“go and meet the LORD of hosts in pleading” in this verse is yifge'u-na. The verb translated “make intercession” grows from the verb for meeting or encountering, so prayer here is an approach to the LORD within the threatened matter. English “intercession” can hide this active sense of meeting and reaching.
ALSO GROWS
pāgaʿ: Meet or encounter.
פָּגַע
This basic sense shows intercession as an encounter with the LORD on behalf of the vessels.
hipgīaʿ: Entreat or make intercession.
הִפְגִּיעַ
This related form carries the root into the act of appealing for another, as the prophets are challenged to do here.
דְּבַר־יְהוָה
devar-YHWH
GROWS FROM
דבר
Speak or declare; the related noun can mean a word, matter, or affair.
The Hebrew noun can mean a spoken word and also a matter or affair, keeping utterance connected to concrete reality. The claimed word of the LORD is set beside actual vessels in danger, so the verse makes divine speech answerable to the matter at hand.
ALSO GROWS
dibber: Spoke or declared.
דִּבֵּר
This verbal branch links the prophet’s claim to speak with the word said to be with them.
davar: Word, matter, or affair.
דָּבָר
This noun’s range joins the LORD’s word to the concrete matter of the vessels and their threatened removal.
THE PATTERN
Intercession turns an appeal to God into a plea for another’s life, healing, or preservation.
Now therefore return the man his wife, for he is a prophet. He shall pray for you, and you shall live. And if you do not return her, know that you shall surely die, you and all that is yours.Far be it from me that I should miss the mark against the LORD by letting go of praying for you. But I will instruct you in the good and straight way.Speak your stumbles into the open to one another, and pray over one another, that you may be made whole. The asking of an aligned one, working within, is very strong.THE THREAD
Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the plunder with the strong, because he poured out his living soul to death, and was counted with the rebels. He carried the falling short of many, and for the rebels he stepped in.The Hebrew verb behind “made intercession” shares the root פגע (p-g-ʿ, pāgaʿ), meaning to meet or encounter, with Jeremiah’s “make intercession.” Jeremiah presents the prophets’ appeal for the threatened vessels; Isaiah shows that same root reaching toward those who rebel.
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