What Does Jeremiah 42:4 Mean?
Then Jeremiah the prophet said to them, I have heard you. Look, I will pray for you to the LORD your God, according to your words, and whatever the LORD answers you, I will declare to you. I will hold back no word from 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
Then Jeremiah the prophet said unto them, I have heard you; behold, I will pray unto the LORD your God according to your words; and it shall come to pass, that whatsoever thing the LORD shall answer you, I will declare it unto you; I will keep nothing back from you.THE KEY
The answer is not meant to stop with the messenger: what is heard is brought into view, with nothing held back.
THE MEANING
When a question is carried before the LORD, this word promises an answer brought back whole. The messenger’s speech is open: nothing the LORD answers is withheld from you.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that an answer can be trusted while its decisive part is withheld from the person waiting for it.
THE ROOT
אֶמְנַע
emnaʿ
GROWS FROM
מנע
m-n-ʿ
To withhold, restrain, or prevent.
“hold back” in this verse is emnaʿ. The verb pictures an answer being stopped from reaching its hearers, so Jeremiah’s promise is more than completeness: no barrier is placed between the message and the people. Nothing received is held back on its way to them.
ALSO GROWS
manaʿ: To withhold, restrain, or prevent.
מָנַע
This is the verb family underlying “keep nothing back”: an answer can be restrained from reaching its hearers.
yimnaʿ: He withholds or prevents; as in Psalm 84:11, “no good thing will he withhold.”
יִמְנַע
The same root describes withholding as stopping something from reaching someone; Jeremiah promises that this blockage will not happen to the answer.
אַגִּיד
aggid
GROWS FROM
נגד
n-g-d
To tell, announce, or make known; related forms also carry the sense of what is before or in front.
“declare to you” in this verse is aggid. The word for declaring belongs to a root family that includes what is set before someone and the one who tells. Jeremiah’s promise is concrete: the answer is brought into view for the people to hear.
ALSO GROWS
neged: Before, in front of, or opposite.
נֶגֶד
This related form gives “declare” the image of setting the answer before its hearers.
maggid: One who tells or declares.
מַגִּיד
Isaiah 45:19 uses this form from the same root for declaring what is right, linking declaration with bringing a message into view.
שָׁמַעְתִּי
shamaʿti
GROWS FROM
שמע
sh-m-ʿ
To hear, listen, or heed; hearing can include response when the context implies it.
“heard” in this verse is shamaʿti. Here, hearing opens a chain of response: Jeremiah hears the request, prays, and promises to speak. The word marks the beginning of an exchange that continues until the answer reaches the people.
ALSO GROWS
shemaʿ: Hear and respond; heed.
שְׁמַע
In this passage, Jeremiah’s hearing is followed by prayer and a promise to relay the answer.
shemuʿah: A report or news, something heard.
שְׁמוּעָה
This related word shows hearing becoming a message that can be carried onward, as it does here.
THE PATTERN
A messenger carries the request to God and brings the answer back without trimming it.
I stood between the LORD and you at that time, to show you the word of the LORD, for you were afraid before the face of the fire, and did not go up into the mountain, saying,For the Lord GOD does nothing, unless he uncovers his secret to his servants the prophets.For I have not drawn back from declaring to you the whole purpose of God.THE THREAD
I have not spoken in hiding, in a dark place of the earth; I did not say to the seed of Jacob, Seek me in emptiness. I, the LORD, speak alignment; I declare straight things.Both verses use the root נגד (n-g-d) for declaring: Jeremiah promises to bring the answer into view, and here the LORD pairs declaration with refusing to speak in secret. The shared root makes openness part of the act of declaring.
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