What Does Jeremiah 50:1 Mean?
The word that the LORD spoke against Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans, by the hand of Jeremiah the prophet.
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
The word that the LORD spake against Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet.THE KEY
“Word” and “spake” share one Hebrew root: the message is speech already moving toward its target.
THE MEANING
As you read, “word” and “spake” come from the same Hebrew root: the message is speech moving toward its object. It arrives through a human voice and names its target plainly.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the assumption that a word is only information, detached from the act of speaking it.
THE ROOT
דָּבָר
davar
GROWS FROM
דבר
d-b-r
To speak; a spoken matter.
Hebrew uses דָּבָר (davar, “word”) and דִּבֵּר (dibber, “spoke”) from the same root. The verse repeats that root as noun and verb, so its message is not inert content; it is speech directed toward Babylon.
ALSO GROWS
dibber: He spoke; declared.
דִּבֵּר
This is the verb form heard in “spake,” sharing its root with “word” and joining the message to the act of speaking.
devarim: Words; matters or things.
דְּבָרִים
This plural branch can name both utterances and matters, showing how a spoken word can carry consequence.
THE PATTERN
Divine speech is directed and effective: it goes toward its object and does work there.
So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth. It shall not return to me empty, but shall do what I delight in, and shall break through in the thing to which I sent it.The lion has roared; who will not fear? The Lord GOD has spoken; who will not prophesy?For the word of God is living and working, and sharper than any two-edged sword, reaching through even to the dividing of living soul and breath, of joints and marrow, and it separates the inward movements and thoughts of the heart.THE THREAD
So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth. It shall not return to me empty, but shall do what I delight in, and shall break through in the thing to which I sent it.Jeremiah 50:1 pairs דָּבָר (davar, “word”) with דִּבֵּר (dibber, “spake”), forms of the same Hebrew root. Isaiah shows that same dabar going out from the mouth and accomplishing its purpose, opening this word as directed speech rather than a detached announcement.
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