What Does Jeremiah 36:20 Mean?
And they went in to the king in the court, but they set the roll down in the chamber of Elishama the scribe, and told all the words in the ears of the king.
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 they went in to the king into the court, but they laid up the roll in the chamber of Elishama the scribe, and told all the words in the ears of the king.THE KEY
The scroll rests in Elishama’s chamber, “God has heard”, while the king hears its full contents from another room.
THE MEANING
You can receive a message through hearing while its written witness rests elsewhere. The verse holds the spoken report and the preserved scroll apart, yet both carry the same words. Even the keeper’s name, Elishama, “God has heard”, echoes the message entering the king’s ears.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that a message is present only when its document is in front of you dissolves here: the report reaches the king while the scroll remains in another room.
THE ROOT
וַיַּגִּידוּ
vayaggidu
GROWS FROM
נגד
To tell, declare, or make known; the same consonants also carry the sense of being before or in front of.
The verb translated “told” shares its root with נֶגֶד (neged), “before” or “in front of.” Their report puts the words before the king’s hearing even as the scroll remains in another chamber.
ALSO GROWS
nagad: Tell, declare, make known
נָגַד
This is the verb’s root sense: the king receives the contents as a report.
neged: Before, opposite, in front of
נֶגֶד
The related word illuminates how the report places the message before the king through speech.
אֱלִישָׁמָע
Elishama
GROWS FROM
שמע
Hear, listen, heed; in the name Elishama, “God has heard.”
Elishama’s name joins אֵל (El, God) with שָׁמַע (shama, hear). The scroll rests in the chamber of “God has heard” while the words are carried into the king’s ears.
ALSO GROWS
shama: Hear, listen, heed
שָׁמַע
The name’s root echoes the verse’s emphasis on the message reaching the king’s ears.
shemuah: A report, news; something heard
שְׁמוּעָה
This branch links hearing with the report that carries the scroll’s contents to the king.
הִפְקִידוּ
hifqidu
GROWS FROM
פקד
Attend to, oversee, appoint, or place in someone’s charge.
“laid up” in this verse is hifqidu. The verb carries the sense of assigned care: the scroll is entrusted to the scribe’s keeping while its contents reach the king by speech. The verse holds preservation and public hearing in the same moment.
ALSO GROWS
paqad: Attend to, oversee, appoint
פָּקַד
Its range gives the scroll’s placement a sense of care and responsibility.
pequddah: Charge, oversight, appointment
פְּקֻדָּה
This branch echoes the scroll being held within the scribe’s sphere of charge.
THE PATTERN
A message enters hearing through spoken or read words even as its written witness remains preserved.
When all Israel comes to see the face of the LORD your God in the place he will choose, you will call out this instruction before all Israel, in their ears.For we cannot keep from speaking what we have perceived and heard.Flourishing is the one who reads aloud, and those who hear the words of this prophecy and guard what is written in it, for the season is at hand.THE THREAD
To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. The heavens recount the weight of God; and the expanse sets forth the work of his hands.The Hebrew word behind “sheweth” comes from the same root, נגד, as “told” in Jeremiah. There the report places words before the king’s hearing; here the firmament makes its witness known.
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