What Does Jeremiah 35:15 Mean?
I have sent to you all my servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying, Turn back now, each man from his evil way, and make good your deeds, and do not walk after other gods to serve them; and you shall settle on the ground which I have given to you and to your fathers. But you have not bent your ear, nor have you heard and responded to me.
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
I have sent also unto you all my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, Return ye now every man from his evil way, and amend your doings, and go not after other gods to serve them, and ye shall dwell in the land which I have given to you and to your fathers: but ye have not inclined your ear, nor hearkened unto me.THE KEY
The repeated sending already holds a way back; the rupture comes when the ear refuses to turn toward what has been sent.
THE MEANING
The call reaches you repeatedly: turn from the destructive way, amend what you do, and stop serving other gods. It holds out dwelling in the given land as the fruit of that return. The refusal named here is an ear that stays turned away and will not answer.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that return is impossible because no way back is being offered: the call is sent again and again, and the blockage is the refusal to incline the ear.
THE ROOT
שָׁלַחְתִּי
shalachti
GROWS FROM
שלח
shalach
send, send forth, release, let go
The repeated sending carries release toward the people: a way out of what holds them and back toward the given land. This root also appears in the names of the sent waters and the table of provision, joining the movement of sending with restoration and what is extended to sustain life.
ALSO GROWS
Shiloach: sent; the name associated with the waters of Shiloah and the pool of Siloam
שִׁלֹחַ
The sent waters associated with restored sight echo the sending here as an opening toward restoration.
Shulchan: table
שֻׁלְחָן
The table is provision extended outward, carrying the root’s movement of sending into what is set before someone.
שׁוּבוּ
shuvu
GROWS FROM
שוב
shuv
turn back, return
“Turn back now” in this verse is shuvu. Return here is more than regret: it is a turn from a path with a direction, away from what is destructive. A related form means to bring back or restore, so the call carries the possibility of return within it.
ALSO GROWS
Teshuvah: turning back, return
תְּשׁוּבָה
The same seed names the movement the verse calls for: turning from the harmful way toward what has been given.
Heshiv: bring back, restore
הֵשִׁיב
This form shows return as restoration, not only a change of direction.
שָׁמְעוּ
sham'u
GROWS FROM
שמע
shama
hear, listen, hear and respond
“heard and responded to me” in this verse is sham'u. The ending places the unturned ear beside the refusal to hear and respond. The word holds listening as more than receiving sound: it is attention that opens into an answer.
ALSO GROWS
Shema: hear and respond
שְׁמַע
This familiar form makes clear that hearing can include the response the people withhold here.
Shomea: one who hears, a listener
שׁוֹמֵעַ
The listener is defined by attending to what reaches the ear, highlighting the refusal described in the verse.
THE PATTERN
A way back is repeatedly sent, but it becomes lived through hearing that turns into response.
And you shall turn back to the LORD your God, and you shall hear and respond to his voice according to all that I command you this day, you and your children, with all your heart and with all your living soul.And the LORD God of their fathers sent to them by the hand of his messengers, rising early and sending, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place.O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you would not!THE THREAD
He sends his word and heals them, and slips them free from their pits.The Hebrew word translated “sent” shares the root שָׁלַח (shalach), meaning “send forth” or “release,” with Jeremiah’s repeated sending. Psalm 107 joins that sending to healing and deliverance, showing the message as part of the movement toward restoration.
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