What Does Jeremiah 4:21 Mean?
How long shall I see the lifted banner, and hear the sound of the ram's horn?
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
How long shall I see the standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet?THE KEY
The question captures what it feels like when warning becomes the landscape: the signal stays in sight and the trumpet in the ear.
THE MEANING
You know the strain of seeing the signal and hearing the alarm without knowing when they will end. Sight and sound keep the warning present, and this question gives voice to the weariness of living inside it.
THE ROOT
נֵס
nēs
GROWS FROM
נסס
n-s-s
To gleam from afar, to be conspicuous as a signal.
“lifted banner” in this verse is nēs. The Hebrew word for a standard is a raised, visible signal: the alarm can be seen as well as heard. English gives “standard” as an object, while the root’s image keeps its purpose in view, to stand out and call attention.
ALSO GROWS
nēs: A banner, standard, or signal raised to be seen.
נֵס
This is the word translated “standard” here; its visibility makes the warning hard to miss.
hitnōsēs: To be displayed or raised as a signal; translated “displayed” in Psalm 60:4.
הִתְנוֹסֵס
This related form makes the signal’s visibility explicit: it is raised into view.
nissī: “My banner,” in the name “The LORD is my banner” (Exodus 17:15).
נִסִּי
The banner can also name the one under whose signal people gather.
אֶשְׁמְעָה
eshmaʿah
GROWS FROM
שמע
sh-m-ʿ
To hear, heed, and respond.
The English “hear” can sound like a passive sensation, but shamaʿ can carry hearing toward heeding and response. The trumpet is an alarm that reaches the listener as a summons, so its repeated sound keeps the demand to respond present.
ALSO GROWS
shemaʿ: Hear and respond; the opening word of Deuteronomy 6:4.
שְׁמַע
It shows how hearing can include attending and responding, not only receiving sound.
shemuʿah: A report or news heard; the word translated “report” in Isaiah 53:1.
שְׁמוּעָה
The trumpet’s sound is also a message carried to those who hear it.
THE PATTERN
A warning becomes public when a signal is raised and an alarm is sounded, making danger recognizable and calling for a response.
If, when he sees the sword come upon the land, he blows the horn and warns the people;Will a ram's horn be blown in the city, and the people not tremble? Will there be evil in a city, and the LORD not have done it?For if the trumpet gives an unclear sound, who will arm himself for battle?THE THREAD
Lift the banner toward Zion; run, and do not stand. For I bring harm from the north, and a great breaking.The Hebrew word נֵס (nēs, banner or signal) appears in both verses. Here the signal is being raised toward Zion; in 4:21, the question holds that same visible warning together with the trumpet still sounding.
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