What Does Jeremiah 31:34 Mean?
And they shall not teach each one his neighbor and his brother, saying, Perceive the LORD, for they shall all perceive me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will release their crookedness, and their shortcomings I will remember no more.
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 they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.THE KEY
The Hebrew root behind “Know the LORD” is repeated in “they shall all know me,” so what begins as a command becomes knowing shared by everyone.
THE MEANING
This promise speaks to you as part of the “all”: knowing the LORD is shared across every rank, and no one is too small or too great for it. The LORD releases crookedness and missing so completely that they are no longer held in memory.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that knowing the LORD is reserved for teachers or the greatest, and that forgiven wrong stays permanently on your account.
THE ROOT
דְּעוּ
deʿu
GROWS FROM
ידע
ידע (yadaʿ): know, perceive through encounter.
“perceive” in this verse is deʿu. The verse first uses this root in the command “Know the LORD,” then repeats it for “they shall all know me.” The same seed carries the movement from being told to know toward knowing shared by everyone.
ALSO GROWS
yadaʿ: knew
יָדַע
This verb form makes the shared root visible in the verse’s repeated language of knowing.
yediʿah: knowledge, report
יְדִיעָה
It shows that what is known can also be spoken of as knowledge, while the verse centers the knowing itself.
yodeaʿ: one who knows
יוֹדֵעַ
This form names the person who knows, echoing the verse’s promise that all will know the LORD.
יְלַמְּדוּ
yelammedu
GROWS FROM
למד
למד (lamad): learn, study; in this verb form, teach.
“Teach” in this verse is yelammedu. The verse limits the teaching it names to telling one another, “Know the LORD.” Beside the repeated root for knowing, this teaching gives way to a community in which everyone knows.
ALSO GROWS
lamad: learn
לָמַד
The root holds learning and teaching together, joining the one who receives instruction with the one who gives it.
melammed: teacher
מְלַמֵּד
This is the one who teaches, the role named in the verse’s opening phrase.
talmid: learner, disciple
תַּלְמִיד
This branch names the learner, one of the roles the verse’s shared knowing encompasses.
אֶסְלַח
ʾeslaḥ
GROWS FROM
סלח
סלח (salaḥ): pardon, forgive; release what is charged against someone.
The verse joins forgiveness to the LORD remembering the wrong no more. The release reaches the record as well as the offense.
ALSO GROWS
salaḥ: forgive, pardon
סָלַח
This verb shares the root and names the act the LORD promises here.
seliḥah: forgiveness, pardon
סְלִיחָה
This noun shows the same root as the release itself.
saluach: forgiven, pardoned
סָלוּחַ
This form describes the state that follows the LORD’s act of forgiveness.
THE PATTERN
Knowing the LORD is shared across every rank, while forgiveness releases the record of wrong.
And all your children are trained by the LORD, and abundant is the wholeness of your children.And this is the life of the ages, that they might know you, the only God of truth, and Jesus, the Anointed One, whom you have sent.I, even I, I AM, the one who wipes away your rebellion for my own sake, and I will not remember your missed marks.THE THREAD
And I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the LORD; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God; for they shall turn back to me with their whole heart.Jeremiah 24:7 uses the same Hebrew verb for “know” and locates that knowing in a heart the LORD gives. It opens “all shall know me” as inward recognition shared across every rank.
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