What Does Jeremiah 42:21 Mean?
And now I have declared it to you this day, but you have not heard and responded to the voice of the LORD your God, nor to any word for which he sent me to you.
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 now I have this day declared it to you; but ye have not obeyed the voice of the LORD your God, nor any thing for the which he hath sent me unto you.THE KEY
A message can be clearly declared and still remain unheard when hearing never becomes response.
THE MEANING
The verse holds a sharp distinction between hearing words and receiving their direction. The message reaches the reader, but hearing remains incomplete when it does not become response. What is sent carries a purpose that mere exposure does not fulfill.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that hearing a message means you have already responded to it.
THE ROOT
שָׁמַעְתֶּם
shemaʿtem
GROWS FROM
שמע
sh-m-ʿ
To hear, listen, heed, or respond.
“heard and responded” in this verse is shemaʿtem. The word translated “obeyed” is rooted in hearing: the verse describes a failure of responsive listening, not a lack of sound or information. Hebrew holds hearing and response together, showing why a message can be declared yet remain unreceived.
ALSO GROWS
shemuʿah: A report or tidings; something heard.
שְׁמוּעָה
A report can reach the ear, but the verse’s form of hearing goes further: it answers what has been heard.
shemaʿ: Hear; listen and respond.
שְׁמַע
This form makes the passage’s contrast visible: the words are present, while responsive hearing is absent.
שָׁלַחְתִּי
shalachti
GROWS FROM
שלח
sh-l-ḥ
To send forth, release, or let go.
The message is not presented as detached information; it is something sent with a purpose. The root’s sense of sending forth makes the gap plain: what is released toward the reader has not yet been received as a response.
ALSO GROWS
shaluach: Sent; one who has been sent.
שָׁלוּחַ
The messenger carries a word outward, but the verse distinguishes the act of sending from the hearer’s response.
shilluach: Sending away or release.
שִׁלּוּחַ
The root carries movement outward, echoing the message that has been sent to reach its hearers.
THE PATTERN
A word that is truly heard moves from sound into a changed direction.
That you may love the LORD your God, and that you may hear and respond to his voice, and that you may cling to him; for he is your life, and the lengthening of your days; that you may settle upon the ground the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.My sheep hear and respond to my voice, and I perceive them, and they follow me.But be makers of the word, and not hearers only, miscounting yourselves.THE THREAD
That you may love the LORD your God, and that you may hear and respond to his voice, and that you may cling to him; for he is your life, and the lengthening of your days; that you may settle upon the ground the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.“Obey” in both verses comes from שמע (shamaʿ), hear and respond. Deuteronomy connects that responsive hearing with cleaving and life, opening the weight of what Jeremiah names as absent.
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