What Does Jeremiah 38:27 Mean?
Then all the princes came to Jeremiah and asked him, and he declared to them according to all these words that the king had commanded. So they let go of speaking with him, for the word was not perceived.
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 came all the princes unto Jeremiah, and asked him: and he told them according to all these words that the king had commanded. So they left off speaking with him; for the matter was not perceived.THE KEY
Hebrew uses one word-family for the words Jeremiah speaks and the matter that remains unheard.
THE MEANING
You can answer within the words you are given while the matter beneath the exchange stays unheard. Conversation ends, but its ending does not mean the hidden thing has come into view.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
When questioning stops, the truth has been understood.
THE ROOT
דְּבָרִים
devarim
GROWS FROM
דבר
To speak; the word spoken, and the matter or thing it names.
English gives “words” in Jeremiah’s answer and “matter” in the final clause, but Hebrew uses forms of the same root. The spoken devarim and the unheard davar hold the answer and what lies beneath it in one word-family.
ALSO GROWS
dibber: Spoke
דִּבֵּר
Jeremiah tells the princes what the king commanded him to say.
devarim: Words, matters
דְּבָרִים
The plural names the words Jeremiah reports, while its singular davar names the matter that remains unheard.
נִשְׁמַע
nishma
GROWS FROM
שמע
To hear, listen, or heed; in this form, to be heard.
“perceived / heard” in this verse is nishma. Under “perceived” is the concrete sense “was heard.” The wording makes concealment tangible: the matter does not come into hearing, so the exchange can end without it becoming known.
ALSO GROWS
shama: Hear, listen, heed
שָׁמַע
The root names hearing as reception, not merely sound reaching the ear.
shemuah: Report, tidings
שְׁמוּעָה
A report is what has been heard and can pass from one person to another; here the matter does not travel that way.
THE PATTERN
A message can reach the ear without being understood, enacted, or brought into view.
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.And look, you are to them as a love song sung by one with a pleasant voice, who strikes the strings well; for they hear and respond to your words, but they do not do them.But be makers of the word, and not hearers only, miscounting yourselves.THE THREAD
And look, you are to them as a love song sung by one with a pleasant voice, who strikes the strings well; for they hear and respond to your words, but they do not do them.In both verses, דבר names what is spoken, and שמע names hearing. Ezekiel makes explicit one way a davar can remain unreceived: people hear the words yet do not bring them into action.
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