What Does Jeremiah 35:3 Mean?
Then I took Jaazaniah son of Jeremiah, son of Habaziniah, and his brethren, and all his sons, and the whole house of the Rechabites.
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
Then I took Jaazaniah the son of Jeremiah, the son of Habaziniah, and his brethren, and all his sons, and the whole house of the Rechabites;THE KEY
In Hebrew, “sons” belongs to the root “to build,” so the gathered family appears as a house being built forward across generations.
THE MEANING
You are not only one name: you stand within a house shaped by kinship across generations. The people tied to your life form part of a shared structure that carries identity forward.
THE ROOT
בָּנָיו
bānāv
GROWS FROM
בנה
to build, establish, or build up
The Hebrew word for “sons” belongs to the root banah, “to build.” Beside “the whole house,” it makes lineage sound like a house being built forward through its members.
ALSO GROWS
banah: to build
בָּנָה
This verb names the building action carried in the word for sons.
binyan: building, structure
בִּנְיָן
This noun shares the root and gives the verse’s family language an architectural dimension.
יַאֲזַנְיָהוּ
Yaʿazanyāhû
GROWS FROM
אזן
to hear, listen, or give ear
Jaazaniah’s name carries the meaning “Yah hears.” English leaves that meaning opaque, while Hebrew lets this gathering begin under a name of listening.
ALSO GROWS
ʾōzen: ear
אֹזֶן
This branch makes hearing concrete in the body and shares the root carried in the name.
heʾĕzîn: to listen, give ear
הֶאֱזִין
This verb unfolds hearing as active attention, the quality compressed in “Yah hears.”
רֵכָבִים
rēḵāḇîm
GROWS FROM
רכב
to ride or mount
“Rechabites” in this verse is rēḵāḇîm. The name Rechab belongs to the Hebrew root of riding, with branches for both rider and conveyance. Set beside “house” and “sons,” this lineage carries movement as well as structure.
ALSO GROWS
rōḵēḇ: rider, one who rides
רֹכֵב
This branch carries the root’s image of a person in motion.
reḵeḇ: chariot, riding vehicle
רֶכֶב
This branch names what carries a rider, extending the root’s movement image.
THE PATTERN
A household is treated as a gathered whole whose identity is carried through its members.
And the LORD said to Noah, Come, you and all your house into the ark, for I have seen you aligned before my face in this generation.And if it seems evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served beyond the river, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you settle. As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.And they said, Lean your weight on the Lord Jesus, the Anointed One, and you will be delivered, you and your house.THE THREAD
The eyes of the LORD are upon the aligned, and his ears are open to their cry.Jaazaniah’s name carries the root of hearing, and Psalm 34:15 gives that compressed meaning a bodily image: the LORD’s ears are turned toward a cry. What is hidden in one person’s name opens into a picture of divine listening.
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