What Does Jeremiah 3:16 Mean?
And it will happen, when you multiply and bear fruit in the land, in those days, says the LORD, that they will no longer say, The ark of the covenant of the LORD. It will not rise upon the heart, and they will not remember it, and they will not attend to it, and it will not be made again.
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 it shall come to pass, when ye be multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, saith the LORD, they shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of the LORD: neither shall it come to mind: neither shall they remember it; neither shall they visit it; neither shall that be done any more.THE KEY
The ark’s disappearance is not the disappearance of covenant presence; it is the end of treating one container as what the community must keep naming, remembering, and visiting.
THE MEANING
The verse places the ark beyond the community’s speech, thought, memory, and ritual attention. It speaks to you now of covenant presence no longer concentrated in a single object that must be preserved and approached. The repeated “no more” marks a release of the ark from its place at the center of communal attention.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that God’s presence depends on keeping one sacred object at the center of communal attention.
THE ROOT
זָכַר
zakar
GROWS FROM
ז־כ־ר
z-k-r
Remember, call to mind, bring into remembrance.
“remember” in this verse is zakar. The verse layers speech, what rises upon the heart, remembrance, and attending to the ark, then closes with “no more.” The related word זִכָּרוֹן (zikaron), meaning memorial or remembrance, shows how remembering can become a lasting communal marker; here, even that role of the ark recedes.
ALSO GROWS
zikaron: Memorial; remembrance.
זִכָּרוֹן
A memorial gives remembrance a durable, shared form, illuminating how the ark can function as more than an object: it can anchor the community’s memory.
hizkir: Mention; bring to mind.
הִזְכִּיר
This branch joins remembering with speaking, echoing the verse’s movement from saying the ark’s name to no longer remembering it.
THE PATTERN
As covenant presence is understood beyond one sacred object, communal attention gathers around the LORD and the people who encounter him.
At that time they will call Jerusalem the throne of the LORD, and all the nations will be drawn to it, to the nature of the LORD, to Jerusalem, and they will no longer walk after the stiffness of their evil heart.Jesus said to her, Woman, trust me, the hour is coming when you will bow down to the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.Have you not seen that you are God's temple, and that the breath of God dwells in you?THE THREAD
At that time they will call Jerusalem the throne of the LORD, and all the nations will be drawn to it, to the nature of the LORD, to Jerusalem, and they will no longer walk after the stiffness of their evil heart.This next verse shows what the ark’s absence does not mean: the LORD is not absent, but Jerusalem is named as his throne and a place where nations gather. The center of communal attention shifts from the ark to the LORD’s presence among a gathered people.
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