What Does Jeremiah 32:6 Mean?
And Jeremiah said, The word of the LORD came to me, saying,
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 Jeremiah said, The word of the LORD came unto me, saying,THE KEY
The Hebrew davar can mean both “word” and “matter,” so what comes to Jeremiah is speech with substance.
THE MEANING
The verse presents the word of the LORD as address that is present to a person and speaks. Its Hebrew phrasing uses “be” where English says “came,” holding arrival together with being present.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a word from God is only distant information; here, the word is an address to a hearer.
THE ROOT
דָּבָר
dāḇār
GROWS FROM
דבר
To speak or utter; as a noun, a word or matter.
The same root carries both speech and the matter being spoken about. English “word” can sound like information alone, while davar also holds the substance of the matter.
ALSO GROWS
dibber: spoke, declared
דִּבֵּר
The verse’s “word” is joined to the act of speaking: it is speech, not mute content.
davar: matter, affair, thing
דָּבָר
This sense gives “the word of the LORD” substance beyond a sound or quotation.
הָיָה
hāyâ
GROWS FROM
היה
To be, become, or happen.
The Hebrew says the word “was” to Jeremiah; English “came” captures its arrival. The root holds arrival together with being present.
ALSO GROWS
ehyeh: I am; I will be
אֶהְיֶה
The same root can express being, giving the verse’s “came to me” an added sense of presence.
wayehi: and it was; and it came to pass
וַיְהִי
This common form shows how the root can hold both being and what happens.
THE PATTERN
Divine speech is presented as living address that reaches a hearer and carries meaning into consequence.
Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,For I am the LORD. I will speak, and the word I speak shall be done. It shall no more be drawn out. For in your days, O rebellious house, I will speak a word and do it, says the Lord GOD.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.THE THREAD
For I am the LORD. I will speak, and the word I speak shall be done. It shall no more be drawn out. For in your days, O rebellious house, I will speak a word and do it, says the Lord GOD.In Hebrew, the root דבר (d-b-r) underlies both “speak” and “word” in this verse. Ezekiel’s line carries that shared root forward to what comes to pass, showing speech joined to its consequence.
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