What Does Jeremiah 32:34 Mean?
But they set their recoiling things in the house that is called by my name, to make it unclean.
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
But they set their abominations in the house, which is called by my name, to defile it.THE KEY
Defilement begins when what is detestable is given a place inside the house that bears God’s name.
THE MEANING
This verse exposes a contradiction: something detestable occupies the house that bears God’s name. The name declares whose nature the house carries, while what is placed inside reveals a competing nature. The image reaches the reader now: what occupies an inner life can contradict the name it bears.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A sacred name does not make everything placed under it clean; what occupies the house can contradict the nature its name declares.
THE ROOT
שִׁקּוּצֵיהֶם
shiqqutsehem
GROWS FROM
שקץ
To be detestable or abhorrent; to regard something as detestable.
“recoiling things” in this verse is shiqqutsehem. “Abominations” can sound like an abstract category, but this Hebrew word names the detestable things themselves. Their placement inside the named house makes the contradiction tangible: what is abhorrent is given a place within it.
ALSO GROWS
sheqets: A detestable thing; an abomination.
שֶׁקֶץ
This related noun likewise names the detestable thing itself, emphasizing what has been placed inside the house.
shaqats: To regard as detestable or make abominable.
שָׁקַץ
The verb shows the same root describing the quality of being abhorrent, joining the object in the house to the judgment its presence carries.
לְטַמְּאוֹ
leṭamme'o
GROWS FROM
טמא
To be unclean or impure; in this form, to make unclean.
“make it unclean” in this verse is leṭamme'o. The word describes a change into an unclean condition, not merely a mark on the surface. The placement of what is detestable affects the condition of the house itself.
ALSO GROWS
ṭame': Unclean or impure.
טָמֵא
This adjective names the condition the action brings about in the house.
ṭum'ah: Uncleanness or impurity.
טֻמְאָה
This noun makes visible the resulting state: the house is rendered unclean by what occupies it.
נִקְרָא
niqra
GROWS FROM
קרא
To call, proclaim, or read aloud.
“called” in this verse is niqra. The house is not anonymous space; it is identified by a name. Here that name carries the nature and claim of the one whose name it bears, sharpening the contrast with what has been placed inside.
ALSO GROWS
qara: To call, proclaim, or read.
קָרָא
The root verb makes the house’s identity something declared, not a hidden label.
miqra: A public reading or convocation.
מִקְרָא
This related word carries the sense of something called together, showing how the root’s declaration can give a group or gathering its identity.
THE PATTERN
What occupies a house claimed by God’s name reveals whether its contents accord with that claim.
For the children of Judah have done evil in my eyes, says the LORD. They have placed their sickening things in the house which is called by my name, to make it unclean.Your testimonies are very steady; set-apartness fits your house, O LORD, for the length of days.And what setting down together has the temple of God with images? For you are the temple of the living God, as God has said, "I will dwell in them, and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be my people."THE THREAD
For the children of Judah have done evil in my eyes, says the LORD. They have placed their sickening things in the house which is called by my name, to make it unclean.Jeremiah 7:30 repeats the same root for “abominations” and the same house bearing God’s name. The repeated language lets the root’s sense of detestable things sharpen the contradiction: what is named as God’s is made a place for what is abhorrent.
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