What Does Jeremiah 37:2 Mean in the King James?
But neither he, nor his servants, nor the people of the land, did hearken unto the words of the LORD, which he spake by the prophet Jeremiah.
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 calls the failure a refusal of response: the words reach everyone, but they are not received as an answerable call.
THE MEANING
The LORD’s words address the reader now, but proximity to them does not itself mean they are heard. Here, hearing means receiving the words as something that calls for a response; the verse names the possibility of remaining surrounded by words while leaving them unanswered.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that being around God’s words is the same as having heard them.
THE ROOT
שָׁמַע
shāmaʿ
GROWS FROM
שׁמע
Hear, listen, heed, and respond to what is heard.
“hearken” in this verse is shāmaʿ. This Hebrew seed can name hearing and a report, the thing carried to the ear. Here, the refusal is not simply an absence of sound: the words reach the king, servants, and people but do not become a received response.
ALSO GROWS
shemaʿ: Hear; attend to what is heard.
שְׁמַע
This is the imperative at the start of Deuteronomy’s “Hear, O Israel,” where hearing opens into a response.
shemuʿah: A report or tidings that have been heard.
שְׁמוּעָה
It shows how the root can name what is carried to the ear, while Jeremiah focuses on whether the words are received.
THE PATTERN
Words can reach the ear without being received as a response.
And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.THE THREAD
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:Deuteronomy begins with שְׁמַע (shemaʿ, “hear and respond”), from the same root as Jeremiah’s “hearken.” That connection makes the refusal precise: the words are present, but hearing has not become a response.
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