What Does Jeremiah 22:16 Mean in the King James?
He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well with him: was not this to know me? saith the LORD.
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 Hebrew repeats the root for judging, “he judged the poor person’s case”, then calls that lived act knowing the LORD.
THE MEANING
Knowing the LORD is recognized in how the powerless person’s case is judged. When the poor and needy receive justice, the verse calls this knowledge of God made visible, and says it is well with the one who does it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that knowing God can remain a private conviction untouched by whether people with little power receive justice.
THE ROOT
הַדַּעַת
ha-daʿat
GROWS FROM
ידע
To know or perceive.
“to know” in this verse is ha-daʿat. Here, knowing the LORD is recognition that takes shape in lived dealings: the verse identifies it with the act of judging the poor person’s case. The word reaches beyond information about God to a knowledge made visible in relationship.
ALSO GROWS
daʿat: Knowledge, knowing
דַּעַת
This is the noun used in the verse’s question, tying knowledge of the LORD to the action just described.
yodēaʿ: One who knows or perceives
יֹדֵעַ
This form shows knowing as a relationship with someone, illuminating the verse’s direct phrase “know me.”
דָּן דִּין
dan din
GROWS FROM
דין
To judge, decide a case, or plead.
“judged the cause” in this verse is dan din. The Hebrew repeats the root: “he judged the judgment” or “he judged the case” of the poor. English smooths away the echo, but the repeated sound links the act of justice directly to what the next clause calls knowing the LORD.
ALSO GROWS
din: Judgment, case, plea
דִּין
This noun follows the verb from the same root in the verse, making the poor person’s case the explicit object of justice.
dayyan: Judge, arbiter
דַּיָּן
This related form names the one who decides a case, bringing the verse’s focus on judgment into view.
THE PATTERN
Knowing God becomes visible in just treatment of people with little power.
He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment.And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.THE THREAD
But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD.“Knoweth me” comes from the same Hebrew root, ידע (yadaʿ), as “to know” in Jeremiah 22:16. This verse names judgment as part of what the LORD does in the earth, opening the earlier verse’s claim: knowing the LORD is recognized in justice practiced toward the poor.
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