What Does Jeremiah 7:22 Mean?
For I did not speak to your fathers, nor command them, on the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or slaughter.
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
For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices:THE KEY
Before you bring anything upward to God, God is already bringing you out.
THE MEANING
You are met first by God’s act of bringing you out; the relationship does not begin with what you offer. Burnt offerings and sacrifices are not named as the source of that release.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
God must first receive my religious performance before I can be released.
THE ROOT
הוֹצִיאִי
hotsi’i
GROWS FROM
י־צ־א
y-ṣ-ʾ
to go out, come forth; in this form, to bring out
“brought them out” in this verse is hotsi’i. The root centers a movement from inside to outside. The verse names that movement as God’s act before it names the offerings people might bring.
ALSO GROWS
yetzi’ah: departure; going out
יְצִיאָה
The same root names the exit itself, revealing the verse’s emphasis on movement out of constriction.
motsa: exit; point of departure or source
מוֹצָא
This branch echoes the verse’s focus on the way out and what comes forth.
עֹלָה
olah
GROWS FROM
ע־ל־ה
ʿ-l-h
to rise, ascend, go up
The burnt offering carries the motion of ascent in its name: it is what goes up. Set beside God bringing the people out, the verse places that upward offering after the act of release.
ALSO GROWS
ʿalah: to go up; ascend
עָלָה
This verb shares the offering’s root and makes its upward motion audible.
maʿaleh: ascent; uphill way
מַעֲלֶה
This branch keeps the root’s sense of rising, clarifying the motion contained in olah.
זֶבַח
zevach
GROWS FROM
ז־ב־ח
z-b-ḥ
to slaughter or offer in sacrifice
The verse pairs an offering that rises with one named through slaughter, yet neither is the act it names as bringing the people out. The order turns attention to release before ritual.
ALSO GROWS
zavach: to slaughter for sacrifice or feast
זָבַח
The verb reveals the action carried in the noun ‘sacrifice.’
mizbeach: altar
מִזְבֵּחַ
The altar shares the root of sacrifice, showing how the act and its ritual place belong to the same word-family.
THE PATTERN
Deliverance comes before ritual, and hearing the divine voice is the response that offerings cannot replace.
I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.And Samuel said, Does the LORD delight in rising offerings and slaughtered offerings as much as in hearing and responding to the voice of the LORD? Behold, hearing and responding is better than a slaughtered offering; to prick the ear is better than the fat of rams.And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the living soul, and with all the strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself, is more than all the whole-burned offerings and sacrifices.THE THREAD
I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.Both verses use יצא (yatsa, to go out or bring out): God’s act of bringing the people out is the first thing named. Jeremiah’s verse makes the order clear, release comes before offerings.
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