What Does Jeremiah 2:4 Mean in the King James?
Hear ye the word of the LORD, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel:
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 summons reaches every family, and its “hearing” is a response to a word with substance.
THE MEANING
You are addressed as part of a whole household; no family is outside the reach of the call. To hear the LORD’s word is to meet an address that bears on life and calls for response. The names Jacob and Israel hold together the heel-grasper and the one who strives with God.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Only a leader stands within reach of God’s word; here the summons reaches the whole people and every family.
THE ROOT
שִׁמְעוּ
shimʿu
GROWS FROM
שמע
š-m-ʿ
Hear, listen; in context, hearing can include an answering response.
“Hear” in this verse is shimʿu. The command is more than registering sound: it calls the hearer into a response. The plural form addresses the whole people, so the listening is shared across the household.
ALSO GROWS
shama: Hear, listen
שָׁמַע
The verb’s broader range lets “hear” carry the sense of attending to an address.
shemuʿah: Report, tidings
שְׁמוּעָה
The same root names what is heard, linking the act of listening with the message received.
דְּבַר
devar
GROWS FROM
דבר
d-b-r
Speak, utter.
Davar can mean both a spoken word and a matter or thing. The LORD’s word is therefore presented as an address with substance, touching the life of the whole household.
ALSO GROWS
davar: Word, utterance; also matter or thing
דָּבָר
Its range joins speech to the matter being spoken about.
dibber: Spoke
דִּבֵּר
The verb makes clear that the word is an act of speaking, not merely an idea.
יַעֲקֹב
Yaʿaqov
GROWS FROM
עקב
ʿ-q-b
Heel; follow at the heel, supplant.
Jacob’s name is tied to the heel and the act of following at the heel or supplanting. The paired name Israel (יִשְׂרָאֵל, Yisra’el, “one who strives with God”) carries the encounter named in Genesis 32:28; the call reaches the people under both names.
ALSO GROWS
ʿaqev: Heel
עָקֵב
The name Jacob is linked to the heel in the account of his birth.
ʿaqav: Follow at the heel, supplant
עָקַב
This action gives the name Jacob its deeper story of grasping and striving.
THE PATTERN
The call to hear treats listening as an encounter that draws a response, not passive sound.
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. To day if ye will hear his voice,But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.THE THREAD
But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you.“Obey my voice” translates the same Hebrew root שמע (sh-m-ʿ, hear/listen) as “Hear ye” here. The repeated root opens hearing into an answering posture, followed by belonging and a walked path.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us