What Does Jeremiah 37:14 Mean in the King James?
Then said Jeremiah, It is false; I fall not away to the Chaldeans. But he hearkened not to him: so Irijah took Jeremiah, and brought him to the princes.
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 pivot is the closed ear: Jeremiah’s denial does not stop the accusation because Irijah refuses to receive his answer.
THE MEANING
A plain denial can still meet a closed ear. Irijah’s refusal to hear leads directly to Jeremiah being taken before the princes, and the accusation becomes a lived danger. The verse speaks now wherever someone is carried by a charge the listener will not examine.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This verse undoes the belief that a clear denial will necessarily be heard or keep its speaker safe. Refusal to receive an answer does not make that answer false.
THE ROOT
שָׁמַע
shamaʿ
GROWS FROM
שמע
Hear, listen, heed, or respond.
“hearkened” in this verse is shamaʿ. The Hebrew root can carry hearing into heedful response, so the refusal here is more than sound failing to reach Irijah. Jeremiah’s denial is spoken, but Irijah gives it no hearing or response; seizure follows.
ALSO GROWS
shemaʿ: Hear, listen, heed, or respond; an imperative.
שְׁמַע
The familiar command “Hear” asks for a response, clarifying what is withheld when Irijah does not hearken.
shemuʿah: A report or tidings; what is heard.
שְׁמוּעָה
This branch names what hearing carries. Here, whether Jeremiah’s denial is received determines whether his words can answer the charge.
THE PATTERN
When a listener refuses truthful speech, words can be turned into danger for the speaker.
They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly.Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord,THE THREAD
He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him.Both passages turn on שׁמע (shamaʿ, hear or respond). Proverbs names the folly of answering before hearing; Jeremiah shows the harm that follows when an answer is refused.
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