What Does Jeremiah 35:17 Mean in the King James?
Therefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring upon Judah and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the evil that I have pronounced against them: because I have spoken unto them, but they have not heard; and I have called unto them, but they have not answered.
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 frames calamity as what follows when a spoken warning and a repeated summons meet no answer.
THE MEANING
You encounter a severe sequence: God speaks and calls, no hearing or answer comes, and calamity falls upon Judah and Jerusalem. The harm remains concrete; the verse names it as the consequence of repeated nonresponse.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that silence is consequence-free: here, the ignored voice is followed by real calamity.
THE ROOT
שָׁמְעוּ
sham'u
GROWS FROM
שמע
to hear, listen, and give heed
Here, “not heard” carries the force of withheld heed: the adjacent “not answered” makes the broken response visible. The verse describes a refused message, not merely sound that fails to reach the ear.
ALSO GROWS
shomeaʿ: one who hears or listens
שֹׁמֵעַ
The word names the listener as someone receiving the call, underscoring the response that is absent here.
shemuʿah: a report or tidings, something heard
שְׁמוּעָה
This branch shows the same root moving from the act of hearing to the message received.
וָאֶקְרָא
vaʾeqra
GROWS FROM
קרא
to call out, summon, proclaim, or read aloud
“called” in this verse is vaʾeqra. The repeated calling is a summons with an answer expected; the paired silence gives the verse its relational shape before it names calamity. The call-and-answer language makes the judgment part of an interrupted exchange.
ALSO GROWS
qeriʾah: a calling or reading aloud
קְרִיאָה
It keeps the spoken call audible as an act directed toward someone who can respond.
miqraʾ: a convocation or gathering called together
מִקְרָא
This branch carries the root from calling out to gathering those addressed by the call.
הָרָעָה
hāraʿāh
GROWS FROM
רעע
to be bad or cause harm; the word family can name evil and calamity
The Hebrew word can name harm or calamity as well as evil, giving this phrase its concrete force: damage arrives upon people and place. Its word family links badness with the harm it brings, so the stated consequence remains material and severe.
ALSO GROWS
raʿ: bad, evil, harmful
רַע
This adjective shows the root’s broad sense of what is bad or damaging.
raʿaʿ: to be bad or do harm
רָעַע
This verbal branch gives the harm in the verse an active, consequential edge.
THE PATTERN
A repeated call left unanswered is followed by consequences the text names plainly.
Therefore will I number you to the sword, and ye shall all bow down to the slaughter: because when I called, ye did not answer; when I spake, ye did not hear; but did evil before mine eyes, and did choose that wherein I delighted not.Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.THE THREAD
And now, because ye have done all these works, saith the LORD, and I spake unto you, rising up early and speaking, but ye heard not; and I called you, but ye answered not;This verse repeats the same Hebrew roots for speaking, hearing, calling, and answering. It makes the present passage’s pattern unmistakable: the call has already come, and the silence is named before calamity follows.
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