What Does Jeremiah 29:13 Mean?
And you will seek me and find me, when you search for me with all your heart.
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
And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.THE KEY
Seeking here is both asking and inquiring; finding is the answer to a search that engages the whole heart.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks of finding God as a real possibility for you now. “All your heart” reaches beyond emotion to the whole inward center, thought, desire, and will, so the search gathers your full self.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that God remains unreachable no matter how sincerely you seek. The verse presents finding as the answer to a whole-hearted search.
THE ROOT
תִדְרְשֻׁנִי
tidreshuni
GROWS FROM
דרש
d-r-sh
To seek, inquire, or investigate.
English “search” can sound like scanning for a hidden object, but darash also means to inquire or seek guidance. The same root appears in midrash, an interpretation formed through inquiry, so the search here carries the sense of sustained attention to the one being sought.
ALSO GROWS
midrash: Inquiry or exposition.
מִדְרָשׁ
It shows how this root’s search can become an attentive investigation of what is being sought.
derishah: Inquiry or request.
דְּרִישָׁה
It links searching with actively asking after the one sought.
וּבִקַּשְׁתֶּם
u-viqqashtem
GROWS FROM
בקש
b-q-sh
To seek or request.
“seek” in this verse is u-viqqashtem. Baqash can mean either seeking or requesting, so this is not an abstract search: it carries the sense of directed desire. Beside darash, it holds asking and inquiring together.
ALSO GROWS
mevaqqesh: One who seeks.
מְבַקֵּשׁ
It makes visible the person actively turning toward what is sought.
baqqashah: A request.
בַּקָּשָׁה
It shows the root’s connection between seeking and asking.
לְבַבְכֶם
levavkhem
GROWS FROM
לבב
l-b-b
The heart as the inner center of thought, intention, and desire.
The Hebrew heart is more than emotion: it names the inward center that thinks, intends, and desires. “All your heart” therefore describes the whole inward person gathered into the search.
ALSO GROWS
lev: Heart or inner center.
לֵב
It shows that the heart names the inward person, not only a feeling.
levav: Heart or inner person.
לְבָב
This form appears in the verse and reinforces the sense of the whole inward self.
THE PATTERN
Across scripture, seeking God is framed as a path that leads to finding, not as endless distance.
But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him, if you seek him with all your heart and with all your living soul.Flourishing are those who guard his testimonies, who seek him with the whole heart.Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.THE THREAD
But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him, if you seek him with all your heart and with all your living soul.Both verses pair דרש (darash, seek or inquire) with מצא (matsa, find) and place the search beside “all thy heart.” The repeated Hebrew roots make finding the direct counterpart of wholehearted seeking.
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