What Does Jeremiah 50:20 Mean?
In those days, and in that time, says the LORD, the crookedness of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none. The shortcomings of Judah shall be sought for, and they shall not be found, for I will release the remnant I leave behind.
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
In those days, and in that time, saith the LORD, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found: for I will pardon them whom I reserve.THE KEY
The LORD’s search finds no charge against the people he leaves standing: the wrong disappears, while the pardoned person remains.
THE MEANING
The verse places you within the search: Israel’s and Judah’s wrongs are sought, yet not found. The LORD leaves people standing and pardons them; the offense does not remain as their defining record.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that once your wrong has been named, it must remain findable and define you forever.
THE ROOT
אַשְׁאִיר
ʾašʾîr
GROWS FROM
שאר
to remain, be left, or leave behind
“remnant” in this verse is ʾašʾîr. The Hebrew rendered “reserve” carries the sense “I leave” or “I leave standing.” The verse sets the disappearance of the charge against the survival of the pardoned person: the wrong is no longer found, while the person remains.
ALSO GROWS
sheʾar: remnant; what remains
שְׁאָר
This noun shares the root שאר and makes the link between those the LORD leaves and what remains explicit.
nishʾar: remains; is left
נִשְׁאַר
This verb shares the same root and echoes the verse’s picture of a person left standing after the charge is gone.
אֶסְלַח
ʾeslaḥ
GROWS FROM
סלח
to pardon or forgive
“release” in this verse is ʾeslaḥ. The same Hebrew root forms both the act of pardon and the state of being forgiven. In this verse, the LORD’s pardon releases the charge that the search cannot find; the person remains, but the accusation does not.
ALSO GROWS
seliḥah: pardon; forgiveness
סְלִיחָה
This noun shares the root סלח and names the pardon the LORD enacts in the verse.
nislaḥ: is forgiven
נִסְלַח
This verb shares the root and describes the forgiven state that follows the act of pardon.
יְבֻקַּשׁ
yĕvuqqaš
GROWS FROM
בקש
to seek, search for, or ask
“sought for” in this verse is yĕvuqqaš. The verse describes an active search for the wrong, then says it cannot be found. The search is real, but its object is absent; the charge is not merely hidden from view.
ALSO GROWS
biqqēš: sought; searched for
בִּקֵּשׁ
This form shares the root בקש and names the same act of searching that opens the verse.
baqqāšāh: request; petition
בַּקָּשָׁה
This noun shares the root and shows that בקש can describe seeking as well as asking for something.
THE PATTERN
In divine pardon, the wrong is released from the record: it is blotted out, carried away, and no longer remembered.
I, even I, I AM, the one who wipes away your rebellion for my own sake, and I will not remember your missed marks.As far as the east is from the west, so far he puts our rebellions from us.For I will release their misalignment, and their shortcomings and their acts of living without boundary I will remember no more.THE THREAD
And he said, If now I have found favor in your eyes, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray, walk in our midst; for it is a people stiff in the neck; and release our crookedness and our falling short, and take us as your inheritance.Exodus uses the same Hebrew root, סלח, in the plea to “pardon our iniquity and our sin.” Jeremiah puts that same act in the LORD’s own voice, “I will pardon”, and shows the charge no longer found.
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