What Does Jeremiah 38:1 Mean?
Then Shephatiah the son of Mattan, and Gedaliah the son of Pashur, and Jucal the son of Shelemiah, and Pashur the son of Malchiah, heard the words that Jeremiah spoke to all the people, 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
Then Shephatiah the son of Mattan, and Gedaliah the son of Pashur, and Jucal the son of Shelemiah, and Pashur the son of Malchiah, heard the words that Jeremiah had spoken unto all the people, saying,THE KEY
Hebrew uses the same root for the “words” Jeremiah spoke and the act of speaking, holding the message and its utterance together as one event.
THE MEANING
What you hear enters your awareness as part of an encounter; listening marks the moment a message becomes present to you. The hearers’ response is still open.
THE ROOT
הַדְּבָרִים
haddevarim
GROWS FROM
דבר
To speak; in noun forms, a word or matter.
“words / had spoken” in this verse is haddevarim. Both “words” and “had spoken” grow from דבר (d-b-r). The root can also name a matter or thing, holding speech as something with substance rather than detached sound.
ALSO GROWS
davar: Word, matter, or thing.
דָּבָר
It shows that the Hebrew word for what is spoken can also name a matter that occupies attention.
dibber: He spoke or uttered.
דִּבֵּר
This is the form used for Jeremiah’s speech, sharing its root with “the words” the officials hear.
וַיִּשְׁמְעוּ
vayishmeʿu
GROWS FROM
שמע
To hear, listen, or heed.
The verse marks reception: the officials hear Jeremiah’s words, though it does not yet say whether they accept them. Hebrew also uses this root for a report or what is heard, joining the hearer with the message received.
ALSO GROWS
shema: Hear or listen.
שְׁמַע
The same root opens Deuteronomy’s call to hear, linking this scene to the wider scriptural pattern of a word reaching its listeners.
shemuah: Report, news, or what is heard.
שְׁמוּעָה
This noun from the same root ties the act of hearing to the message that arrives.
שְׁפַטְיָהוּ
Shephaṭyāhû
GROWS FROM
שפט
To judge, govern, or render a decision.
“Shephatiah” in this verse is Shephaṭyāhû. The name carries the sense “YHWH has judged.” Its judgment language echoes within this scene of hearing, while the verse leaves the officials’ response unstated.
ALSO GROWS
shofet: Judge.
שֹׁפֵט
The name shares this root’s language of judgment.
mishpat: Judgment or justice.
מִשְׁפָּט
This branch shows the broader field of judgment carried by the root within Shephatiah’s name.
THE PATTERN
Words move from utterance into people’s lives as they are heard and received.
Death and life are in the hand of the tongue, and those who love it eat its fruit.But be makers of the word, and not hearers only, miscounting yourselves.So then trust comes out of hearing, and hearing comes through the word of God.THE THREAD
Hear and respond, O Israel. The LORD our God is one LORD.Jeremiah 38:1 uses וַיִּשְׁמְעוּ (vayishmeʿu, “they heard”), while Deuteronomy begins with שְׁמַע (shema, “hear”); both come from שמע. The shared root links the officials’ hearing to the wider scriptural call for a word to reach its hearers.
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