What Does Jeremiah 26:4 Mean in the King James?

And thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD; If ye will not hearken to me, to walk in my law, which I have set before you,

Jeremiah 26:4 · 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

Here, hearing the LORD has a destination: the instruction before you becomes a path your life can walk.

THE MEANING

The LORD’s instruction stands before you as a path, and the verse joins hearing the voice to walking that path. Its warning names a split that remains possible now: the words are heard while the way they open is refused.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the idea that listening is complete once words reach the ears: here, hearing opens into a walk.

THE ROOT

תִּשְׁמְעוּ

tishmeʿu

GROWS FROM

שמע

To hear, listen, or heed; when response is implied, to hear and respond.

In this verse, ⁨תִּשְׁמְעוּ⁩ (tishmeʿu, you hear or listen) is followed by ⁨לָלֶכֶת⁩ (lalechet, to walk), placing hearing on a path toward response. The root holds listening and heeding together, so “hearken” reaches beyond sound reaching the ear.

ALSO GROWS

shemiʿah: Hearing or listening.

שְׁמִיעָה

It names the act of receiving what is heard, which this verse carries onward into walking.

mishmaʿat: Obedience or discipline.

מִשְׁמַעַת

This branch shows how hearing can name a responsive act, not only an impression received.

לָלֶכֶת

lalechet

GROWS FROM

הלך

To walk or go, to move along a way.

“walk” in this verse is lalechet. The instruction is something walked, so the verse makes response a course of movement rather than an idea held at a distance. The root can name both bodily walking and going along a way, joining the words before you to the way you travel.

ALSO GROWS

halikhah: Walking or going.

הֲלִיכָה

It names movement along a way, echoing the verse’s picture of instruction as something walked.

mahalakh: A course, process, or progression.

מַהֲלָךְ

It extends walking into the course a life takes, revealing the path-like force of the instruction.

THE PATTERN

Hearing instruction becomes whole through the path it produces.

And Moses called all Israel, and said unto them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your ears this day, that ye may learn them, and keep, and do them.

Deuteronomy 5:1 · KJVHearing moves through learning into keeping and doing, so the words become a lived path.

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

Psalm 119:105 · KJVThe word becomes light for the feet and path, making instruction something walked within.

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

James 1:22 · KJVIt names the split Jeremiah warns against: hearing without an enacted response turns into self-deception.

THE THREAD

And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul,

Deuteronomy 10:12 · KJV

Both verses use ⁨הָלַךְ⁩ (halakh, walk or go), making instruction a way traveled. Jeremiah names the break when that walk is refused; Deuteronomy places the same walk beside love and service.

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