What Does Jeremiah 5:24 Mean?
Neither do they say in their heart, “Let us now stand in awe of the LORD our God, who gives the rain, early and late, in his season. He keeps for us the appointed weeks of the harvest.”
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
Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the LORD our God, that giveth rain, both the former and the latter, in his season: he reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest.THE KEY
A heart can live on rain and harvest while failing to recognize the One who gives them and keeps their timing.
THE MEANING
You live within provision that arrives in season: rain comes, and the weeks that bring the harvest are kept for you. The verse names awe of the LORD as the recognition missing from a heart that receives these gifts without acknowledging their giver.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie is that rain and harvest are simply owed or self-sustaining; this verse presents their timing as provision given and kept for you.
THE ROOT
יִשְׁמֹר
yishmor
GROWS FROM
שמר
sh-m-r
To watch over, guard, or keep.
“keeps” in this verse is yishmor. The harvest weeks are not merely scheduled; they are kept for us. English can make “reserveth” sound like storage, while the root also carries the sense of guarding and watching over what has been entrusted.
ALSO GROWS
shomer: Keeper, guardian
שֹׁמֵר
The same root makes keeping an active watch, illuminating the care expressed in the harvest being kept for us.
mishmeret: Charge, watch, or guarded responsibility
מִשְׁמֶרֶת
This branch links keeping with a charge held over time, like the appointed weeks that bring the harvest.
הַנֹּתֵן
hanoten
GROWS FROM
נתן
n-t-n
To give, set, or place.
“gives” in this verse is hanoten. The rain is described as something given, not merely something that happens. The giver’s action and the rain’s season belong to one provision: what is given also arrives at the time that sustains the harvest.
ALSO GROWS
mattanah: Gift
מַתָּנָה
The rain that sustains the harvest is framed as a gift, deepening the verse’s link between provision and awe.
netinah: Giving
נְתִינָה
This branch keeps attention on the act of giving behind the recurring rain.
נִירְאָה
nir'ah
GROWS FROM
ירא
y-r-ʾ
To fear or stand in awe.
“stand in awe” in this verse is nir'ah. When the object is the LORD, this root carries awe as well as fear. The verse places that response beside rain and harvest: the seasonal gifts are meant to be recognized as signs of the giver’s care.
ALSO GROWS
yir'ah: Awe, reverence, fear
יִרְאָה
This noun shows that the verse’s missing response is recognition of the LORD, not fear of the weather or harvest.
nora: Awe-inspiring, fearsome
נוֹרָא
This related form shows the root can describe what evokes awe, clarifying the weight of “fear the LORD” here.
THE PATTERN
The rhythms that sustain life are given in season, and their regularity reveals the giver’s care.
All the days of the earth, sowing and reaping, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not stop.He gives drink to the mountains from his upper rooms; the earth is filled with the fruit of your works.So that you may become children of your Father in the heavens, for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the aligned and on the crooked.THE THREAD
And I will give you the rain of your land in its season, the first rain and the late rain, so that you may gather in your grain, your wine, and your oil.Jeremiah’s “giveth” and Deuteronomy’s “I will give” share נתן (natan, give, set, place). Deuteronomy shows the chain in fuller detail: rain is given in season so the harvest can be gathered, opening Jeremiah’s kept weeks as part of the same provision.
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