What Does Jeremiah 13:17 Mean in the King James?
But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride; and mine eye shall weep sore, and run down with tears, because the LORD’s flock is carried away captive.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The root שמע holds hearing and heeding together, so the refusal to hear is already a refusal to respond.
THE MEANING
When you will not hear, sorrow gathers in hidden places and reaches the eyes. The verse joins pride to the loss of the LORD’s flock: what is carried away is not abstract, and the grief is real.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie this verse undoes is that refusing to hear leaves you untouched; the hidden weeping shows that the loss has reached the inner life.
THE ROOT
תִּשְׁמָעוּהָ
tishmeʿuhā
GROWS FROM
שמע
Hear, listen, heed.
The verb can name hearing that reaches into heed and response. So “not hear” is more than sound failing to reach the ear; it is refusal of a call to respond.
ALSO GROWS
shāmaʿ: To hear, listen, or heed.
שָׁמַע
This verb carries the same hearing that can become response.
shemuʿāh: A report or something heard.
שְׁמוּעָה
This branch shows what is heard becoming a message that can be received or refused.
תִּדְמַע
tidmaʿ
GROWS FROM
דמע
Weep; shed tears.
“weep sore” in this verse is tidmaʿ. The same root דמע names both the eye’s weeping and the tear it sheds. Grief unfolds as one continuous act: the eye weeps, and the tear falls.
ALSO GROWS
dāmaʿ: To weep or shed tears.
דָּמַע
This verb is the action of the eye in the verse.
demaʿ: A tear.
דֶּמַע
This noun names what falls as the eye weeps.
נִשְׁבָּה
nishbāh
GROWS FROM
שבה
Take captive; seize.
“carried away captive” in this verse is nishbāh. The verb names seizure, so the flock is not merely traveling away; it is held captive. That makes the grief concrete: what is cherished is being taken from its place of belonging.
ALSO GROWS
shāvāh: To take captive.
שָׁבָה
This is the root verb behind the flock’s captivity.
shevī: Captivity; captives.
שְׁבִי
This noun names the condition into which the flock is taken.
THE PATTERN
In scripture, hearing reaches its meaning in response; refusal leaves a person exposed to rebellion and self-deception.
That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the LORD:But my people would not hearken to my voice; and Israel would none of me.But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.THE THREAD
To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear? behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken: behold, the word of the LORD is unto them a reproach; they have no delight in it.The same Hebrew root שמע (shamaʿ, hear and heed) governs both verses. The closed ear and the weeping eye reveal two sides of the same refusal: one will not receive the word, and grief gathers around what is being carried away.
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