What Does Jeremiah 5:20 Mean?
Declare this in the house of Jacob, and make it heard in Judah, 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
Declare this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying,THE KEY
The verse doubles the work of revelation: bring the message into the open, then make it heard.
THE MEANING
This verse meets you with truth moving through a people: it is declared in Jacob’s house and made audible in Judah. Its paired verbs hold declaration and hearing together, while “saying” opens the message into the words that follow.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that privately recognizing a truth completes its passage; here, the message is voiced so others can hear it.
THE ROOT
וְהַשְׁמִיעוּהָ
vehashmi'uha
GROWS FROM
שמע
To hear; in this causative form, to make something heard.
“make it heard” in this verse is vehashmi'uha. The word translated “publish” carries the concrete sense of causing a message to be heard. Paired with “declare,” it gives public speech two movements: bringing the message forward and carrying it into hearing.
ALSO GROWS
shema: Hear; listen.
שְׁמַע
The familiar command comes from the same root, joining public announcement to the act of hearing.
shemu'ah: A report or tidings.
שְׁמוּעָה
A report is what has been made heard, showing how the root also names the message that travels.
הַגִּידוּ
haggidu
GROWS FROM
נגד
To be in front or conspicuous; to make known, tell, or declare.
“Declare” in this verse is haggidu. The verb presents declaration as bringing a matter forward where it can be encountered. The next verb carries that matter into hearing, so the verse joins making known with making audible.
ALSO GROWS
maggid: One who tells or declares.
מַגִּיד
The same root names the one who brings a message forward to be known.
neged: In front of; opposite.
נֶגֶד
This branch preserves the root’s sense of something set before another, an image that illuminates the act of declaring.
THE PATTERN
A truth enters shared life when it is both declared and made audible.
Hear and respond to the word of the LORD, O nations, and declare it in the far islands, and say, The one who scattered Israel will gather him and guard him, as a shepherd tends his flock.Come out of Babylon, flee from the Chaldeans, and with the voice of a ringing cry, declare it, make it heard, bring it out to the edge of the earth. Say, The LORD has bought back his servant Jacob.Recount his weight among the nations; his wonders among all peoples.THE THREAD
Hear and respond to the word of the LORD, O nations, and declare it in the far islands, and say, The one who scattered Israel will gather him and guard him, as a shepherd tends his flock.Jeremiah 31:10 uses the same two roots in reverse order: first hear, then declare. Together, the verses reveal a circuit in which a message is made audible, carried outward, and heard by others.
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