What Does Jeremiah 40:14 Mean in the King James?
And said unto him, Dost thou certainly know that Baalis the king of the Ammonites hath sent Ishmael the son of Nethaniah to slay thee? But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam believed them not.
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 warning reaches Gedaliah, but he does not treat it as firm enough to trust.
THE MEANING
You can hear a warning without letting it count as true. The danger is concrete: Baalis has sent Ishmael to kill Gedaliah, yet Gedaliah does not trust the report. The verse holds the distance between receiving words and resting confidence on them.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A warning is not false simply because it is hard to believe.
THE ROOT
הֶאֱמִין
heʾemin
GROWS FROM
אמן
ʾ-m-n
To be firm, reliable, or supported.
“believed” in this verse is heʾemin. The warning is spoken, but Gedaliah does not treat its report as firm enough to rely on. The same root lives in emunah (trust) and amen (a confirming “truly”), showing that belief is reliance, not simply hearing words.
ALSO GROWS
emunah: Trust, steadiness
אֱמוּנָה
This branch makes clear that belief involves placing confidence in what is heard.
amen: A firm confirmation: “truly” or “so be it”
אָמֵן
Its confirming force echoes the firmness Gedaliah withholds from the warning.
יִשְׁמָעֵאל
Yishmaʿel
GROWS FROM
שמע
sh-m-ʿ
To hear, listen, or heed.
Ishmael’s name carries the sense “God hears,” bringing hearing into the warning’s sound-shape. The report reaches Gedaliah, but hearing it and trusting it remain distinct.
ALSO GROWS
shamaʿ: Hear, listen, heed
שָׁמַע
The name Ishmael carries this hearing root into the verse’s spoken warning.
shemuʿah: Report, tidings
שְׁמוּעָה
The warning itself is a report that reaches Gedaliah without becoming credible to him.
THE PATTERN
A warning can protect only when its report is received as a credible account of danger.
A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself; but the simple pass on, and are punished.And when Paul’s sister’s son heard of their lying in wait, he went and entered into the castle, and told Paul.THE THREAD
And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.Genesis uses the same root, אמן, for Abraham’s belief: the word reaches beyond hearing to treating something as firm enough to rely on. Jeremiah shows that same trust withheld from a warning.
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