What Does Jeremiah 22:21 Mean in the King James?

I spake unto thee in thy prosperity; but thou saidst, I will not hear. This hath been thy manner from thy youth, that thou obeyedst not my voice.

Jeremiah 22:21 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

The same Hebrew root stands behind “I will not hear” and “thou obeyedst not my voice,” revealing refusal as a failure to respond, not a failure to hear sound.

THE MEANING

You can hear a voice and still refuse its claim: here, hearing means response, not sound alone. Ease does not erase the voice or make refusal disappear. When that nonresponse repeats, it becomes a way you are already walking.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The lie is that secure circumstances prove you are listening, or that refusal is only a momentary response. This verse places the refusal in ease and names it as a repeated path.

THE ROOT

שָׁמַעְתָּ

shama'ta

GROWS FROM

שׁמע

sh-m-ʿ

To hear, listen, and heed; hearing can carry response within it.

“hear / obeyedst” in this verse is shama'ta. The same verb ⁨שׁמע⁩ (shama, to hear and respond) stands behind the first “hear” and the phrase the KJV renders “obeyedst not my voice.” The repeated refusal describes a practiced nonresponse, not a voice that never reached the listener.

ALSO GROWS

shema: Hear; listen and respond.

שְׁמַע

This familiar form shows the root’s reach: hearing can name an answering response, not sound alone.

shemuah: A report or message that is heard.

שְׁמוּעָה

This branch names what reaches the listener; Jeremiah’s repeated verb draws attention to what happens in response.

דַּרְכֵּךְ

darkekh

GROWS FROM

דרך

d-r-k

To tread or step; by extension, a way or course.

“manner / way” in this verse is darkekh. The phrase translated “thy manner” is literally “your way.” Beside the repeated refusal to hear, it pictures not one isolated answer but a route made familiar by repetition.

ALSO GROWS

derek: Way, path, or course.

דֶּרֶךְ

This is the noun beneath “your way”: repeated refusal is described as a path.

darak: To tread or step.

דָּרַךְ

The verb gives the path its image of movement: a way is formed by steps taken along it.

THE PATTERN

A voice is truly heard when its words enter response and shape the path.

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:

Deuteronomy 6:4 · KJVThe Hebrew call to hear uses ⁨שׁמע⁩ (shema, hear and respond), making listening the beginning of an answering relationship.

And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.

1 Samuel 15:22 · KJVThe verse joins hearing the voice with responding to it, showing that outward acts do not replace listening.

But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

James 1:22 · KJVJames names the same gap between receiving words and letting them take effect in action.

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.

Jeremiah 7:23 · KJV

Jeremiah 7:23 uses ⁨שׁמע⁩ (shama, hear and respond) in “Obey my voice,” the same root behind the refusal here. It then speaks of walking in a way, linking a voice answered with a path taken.

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