What Does Jeremiah 35:12 Mean in the King James?
Then came the word of the LORD unto Jeremiah, saying,
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 verse presents the LORD’s word as an event entering Jeremiah’s present before its content is revealed.
THE MEANING
The verse meets you at the threshold: the LORD’s word comes to Jeremiah, and its arrival is named before its message is opened. Hebrew holds “word” and “matter” close, so the address appears as something taking place, not only information waiting to be understood.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that a word matters only after its content is spelled out: here, the arrival itself already marks an encounter.
THE ROOT
דְּבַר
devar construct form
GROWS FROM
דבר
Speak; word, matter, or thing.
This root ties a spoken word to a matter or thing, so English “word” can sound thinner than what the verse holds: the LORD’s address arrives as speech with presence in the scene. The arrival itself is part of the meaning before any content is given.
ALSO GROWS
davar: Word; matter or thing.
דָּבָר
The same form can name speech and what is spoken about, joining the LORD’s address to something taking place.
dibber: Spoke or uttered.
דִּבֶּר
This verbal branch makes clear that the arriving “word” is speech, not merely an abstract idea.
וַיְהִי
wayhi
GROWS FROM
היה
Be, become, happen.
The Hebrew verb translated “came” also carries the sense of being or happening: before the message is quoted, the clause registers the word as present. English “came” preserves the movement, while the Hebrew also lets the word be heard as something happening.
ALSO GROWS
hayah: To be, become, or happen.
הָיָה
This base form reveals the sense of “came” as an arrival into being or occurrence.
ehyeh: I am or I will be.
אֶהְיֶה
This form uses the same root to speak of presence, echoing the verse’s focus on the word becoming present.
THE PATTERN
The divine word arrives as a present reality whose presence precedes, embodies, or exposes its message.
After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.THE THREAD
After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.Both passages use דְּבַר (devar, “word of”) for the LORD’s address. Genesis shows what Jeremiah 35:12 leaves just beyond the threshold: the arriving word becomes a direct promise, so speech is already a present event before the message unfolds.
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