What Does Jeremiah 32:20 Mean?
You have set signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, to this very day, and in Israel and among humankind, and you have made yourself a name, as on this day.
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
Which hast set signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, even unto this day, and in Israel, and among other men; and hast made thee a name, as at this day;THE KEY
God’s name becomes visible through deeds set across borders and still present to this day.
THE MEANING
The signs and wonders reach across Egypt, Israel, and other peoples, and their witness remains before you “unto this day.” God’s name is nature made visible through what God does; those acts make the name recognizable in your present.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
God’s name is only a label, detached from any visible action.
THE ROOT
וַתַּעַשׂ
vata'as
GROWS FROM
עשה
Do, make, accomplish.
The verse says God has “made” a name, and this root also forms מַעֲשֶׂה (ma’aseh), meaning deed or work. The name is not detached from action: it becomes recognizable through what is done.
ALSO GROWS
ma'aseh: Deed, work, action.
מַעֲשֶׂה
This noun names the doing itself, showing how a name becomes legible through acts.
ʿoseh: One who does or makes.
עֹשֶׂה
This form identifies an actor by what they do, echoing the name as expressed nature.
שַׂמְתָּ
samta
GROWS FROM
שׂים
Put, place, set.
“set” in this verse is samta. The signs and wonders are not merely passing events; the verse describes them as placed across lands and peoples. The same root in Deuteronomy 11:18 describes words placed in the heart and soul, then carried as a sign.
ALSO GROWS
lasim: To put, place, or set.
לָשִׂים
The infinitive preserves the root’s basic act of placing, which frames the signs as set in view.
sam: Places or sets.
שָׂם
This inflected form carries the same act of setting into a present description.
THE PATTERN
God’s deeds become public signs through which divine nature is recognized across places and peoples.
And for this very reason I have made you stand, so that I may show my strength in you, and that my name may be recounted throughout all the earth.They set among them the words of his signs and wonders in the land of Ham.Men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man shown forth by God among you through works of strength and wonders and signs, which God did through him in the midst of you, as you yourselves also know.THE THREAD
Therefore set these my words in your heart and in your living soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, and they will be as bands between your eyes.The verb translated “lay up” is שׂים (sim, place or set), the same root translated “set” in Jeremiah. Here the placement moves inward: words placed in the heart and soul become a sign carried on the hand and seen between the eyes.
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