What Does Jeremiah 18:19 Mean in the King James?
Give heed to me, O LORD, and hearken to the voice of them that contend with me.
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 prayer places both the speaker and the voices contending against them within the LORD’s hearing.
THE MEANING
You can place the conflict itself before the LORD: your request and the voice of those contending with you both belong in the prayer. The verse leaves the dispute open while asking God to attend to its voices.
THE ROOT
יְרִיבָי
yerivai
GROWS FROM
ריב
to contend, dispute, or plead a case
“contend” in this verse is yerivai. The word for “contenders” comes from a root that also describes disputing or pleading a case. The voice at issue is an active claim in a conflict, and the verse explicitly brings it into God’s hearing.
ALSO GROWS
riv: to contend or plead a case
רִיב
The conflict word can describe bringing a claim forward, placing the opponents’ words within an active dispute.
merivah: strife or quarrel; also the name Meribah
מְרִיבָה
This branch names the strife that forms when parties contend, showing the conflict as more than vague antagonism.
הַקְשִׁיבָה
haqshivah
GROWS FROM
קשב
to listen attentively or give focused attention
“Give heed” in this verse is haqshivah. The opening request is more than asking for sound to register: qashab asks the hearer to give focused attention. Paired with shama, it presses the request to attend to the speaker and hear the opposing voices.
ALSO GROWS
maqshiv: one who listens attentively
מַקְשִׁיב
This form describes a hearer giving attention, illuminating the focused quality of the appeal.
haqshivu: give ear; listen attentively
הַקְשִׁיבוּ
The same root can call hearers to attend closely, reinforcing that the prayer seeks deliberate attention.
וּשְׁמַע
u-shema
GROWS FROM
שמע
to hear or listen
“hearken” in this verse is u-shema. The same root reaches from hearing to what is heard and carried as a report. The prayer asks for the opponents’ voice itself to be received, not merely for the speaker’s plea to register.
ALSO GROWS
shema: hear; listen (the imperative in Deuteronomy 6:4)
שְׁמַע
This familiar command shows the root as direct hearing, the very act requested here.
shemuah: report, news, or what is heard (Isaiah 53:1)
שְׁמוּעָה
This branch names the message that comes through hearing, connecting the request to hear a voice with receiving what it says.
THE PATTERN
Voices caught in conflict or oppression are brought within God’s hearing.
Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God: for unto thee will I pray.And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows;Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.THE THREAD
A Psalm of David. Plead my cause, O LORD, with them that strive with me: fight against them that fight against me.Jeremiah’s “contend with me” and the psalm’s “strive with me” come from the Hebrew root ריב (riv), meaning to contend or plead a case. The psalm turns that same conflict into a direct appeal for the LORD to take up the case.
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