What Does Jeremiah 37:2 Mean?
But neither he, nor his servants, nor the people of the land, did hear and respond to the words of the LORD, which he spoke by the hand of the prophet Jeremiah.
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 neither he, nor his servants, nor the people of the land, did hearken unto the words of the LORD, which he spake by the prophet Jeremiah.THE KEY
The verse calls the failure a refusal of response: the words reach everyone, but they are not received as an answerable call.
THE MEANING
The LORD’s words address the reader now, but proximity to them does not itself mean they are heard. Here, hearing means receiving the words as something that calls for a response; the verse names the possibility of remaining surrounded by words while leaving them unanswered.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that being around God’s words is the same as having heard them.
THE ROOT
שָׁמַע
shāmaʿ
GROWS FROM
שׁמע
Hear, listen, heed, and respond to what is heard.
“hear and respond” in this verse is shāmaʿ. This Hebrew seed can name hearing and a report, the thing carried to the ear. Here, the refusal is not simply an absence of sound: the words reach the king, servants, and people but do not become a received response.
ALSO GROWS
shemaʿ: Hear; attend to what is heard.
שְׁמַע
This is the imperative at the start of Deuteronomy’s “Hear, O Israel,” where hearing opens into a response.
shemuʿah: A report or tidings that have been heard.
שְׁמוּעָה
It shows how the root can name what is carried to the ear, while Jeremiah focuses on whether the words are received.
THE PATTERN
Words can reach the ear without being received as a response.
And he said, Go, and say to this people, Hear and hear again, but do not discern; see and see again, but do not perceive.But be makers of the word, and not hearers only, miscounting yourselves.THE THREAD
Hear and respond, O Israel. The LORD our God is one LORD.Deuteronomy begins with שְׁמַע (shemaʿ, “hear and respond”), from the same root as Jeremiah’s “hearken.” That connection makes the refusal precise: the words are present, but hearing has not become a response.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us