What Does Jeremiah 32:26 Mean?

Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying,

Jeremiah 32:26 · 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

Then came the word of the LORD unto Jeremiah, saying,

THE KEY

The Hebrew word for “word” also means “matter” or “thing,” so the LORD’s speech arrives already joined to the reality it addresses.

THE MEANING

The LORD’s word comes near and speaks to you now. This verse holds you at the threshold of that speech: the message is an address, not distant information.

THE ROOT

דָּבָר

dāḇār

GROWS FROM

ד־ב־ר

d-b-r

To speak; the noun ⁨דָּבָר⁩ also means a matter, affair, or thing.

Hebrew holds “word” and “matter” within the same word. Here, what the LORD says is joined to the reality the speech addresses.

ALSO GROWS

dibbēr: spoke

דִּבֵּר

A verb from the same root: the word or matter is speech spoken.

dāḇār: matter, affair, thing

דָּבָר

The same noun can name what is said and the matter itself, bringing speech and reality together.

THE PATTERN

The LORD’s word arrives as an address that enters and acts in the reality it names.

After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, Do not fear, Abram. I am your shield, and your very great wages.

Genesis 15:1 · SDVThe same formula presents the LORD’s word as a direct address that meets the hearer.

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 · SDVThe word goes forth and accomplishes its purpose in the matter to which it is sent.

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 active, reaching into the reader’s inner reality.

THE THREAD

After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, Do not fear, Abram. I am your shield, and your very great wages.

Genesis 15:1 · SDV

This verse uses the same Hebrew formula: the ⁨דָּבָר⁩ (dāḇār), the word and matter of the LORD, “came ... saying.” In both, speech arrives as an encounter that opens what follows.

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