What Does Jeremiah 30:4 Mean?

And these are the words that the LORD spoke to Israel and to Judah.

Jeremiah 30:4 · SDV

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.

This verse in the King James

King James wording

King James Version

And these are the words that the LORD spake concerning Israel and concerning Judah.

THE KEY

The Hebrew root behind “words” and “spake” is the same: what God says is bound to the matter it names.

THE MEANING

The LORD’s words now meet the reader as speech concerning real life. They are not floating language: the utterance is bound to the matter and the people named here.

THE ROOT

הַדְּבָרִים

ha-devarim

GROWS FROM

דבר

d-b-r

To speak; davar can mean a word, matter, or thing.

“words / spake” in this verse is ha-devarim. The verse uses ⁨דְּבָרִים⁩ (devarim, “words”) and ⁨דִּבֶּר⁩ (dibber, “spake”) from the same root. English presents speech and subject matter as separate ideas, while Hebrew holds them together: the LORD’s speaking is joined to the matter it concerns.

ALSO GROWS

davar: Word; matter; thing.

דָּבָר

The “words” in this verse belong to the very matter they address.

dibber: He spoke; uttered.

דִּבֶּר

This is the verb used for what the LORD did, sharing its root with the “words” themselves.

THE PATTERN

Scripture presents God’s word as speech that reaches the people and the life it addresses.

But the word is very near to you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it.

Deuteronomy 30:14 · SDVThe word is close to a person’s mouth and heart, reaching into lived experience.

So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth. It shall not return to me empty, but shall do what I delight in, and shall break through in the thing to which I sent it.

Isaiah 55:11 · SDVGod’s word reaches the matter it is sent toward and accomplishes its work there.

For the word of God is living and working, and sharper than any two-edged sword, reaching through even to the dividing of living soul and breath, of joints and marrow, and it separates the inward movements and thoughts of the heart.

Hebrews 4:12 · SDVThe word is living and reaches into the reader’s inner life.

THE THREAD

Then the LORD stretched out his hand and touched my mouth. And the LORD said to me, Look, I have set my words in your mouth.

Jeremiah 1:9 · SDV

“My words” here comes from the same ⁨דבר⁩ root as “words” and “spake” in Jeremiah 30:4. Together, the verses show divine speech reaching people through words that belong to the matter being spoken.

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