What Does Jeremiah 14:12 Mean in the King James?
When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and an oblation, I will not accept them: but I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence.
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 hearing withheld here is a response: fasting and offerings do not make the cry received.
THE MEANING
The verse confronts you with a cry that is not answered and an offering that is not accepted. It names sword, famine, and pestilence as consuming forces, with no ritual canceling that judgment.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that fasting or sacred offerings can guarantee divine acceptance or shield you from consequence.
THE ROOT
שֹׁמֵעַ
shomeaʿ
GROWS FROM
שמע
Hear, listen, heed.
The Hebrew word family joins hearing with attending to what is heard. Here, “I will not hear” can carry the force of a response withheld, not merely a sound that goes unnoticed.
ALSO GROWS
shamaʿ: He heard, listened, heeded.
שָׁמַע
This verb shows how hearing can extend into attending to or heeding what reaches the ear.
shemuʿah: Report, news; something heard.
שְׁמוּעָה
A report is what has been heard and carried onward, keeping this root’s sense of hearing connected to reception and response.
THE PATTERN
Fasting, prayer, and sacrifice do not compel divine hearing or acceptance.
And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts.Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.THE THREAD
If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:Both verses use שׁמע (shamaʿ), hear, listen, heed. Psalm 66:18 names what stands between the heart and hearing; Jeremiah 14:12 shows that fasting and offerings do not turn a withheld response into acceptance.
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