What Does Jeremiah 44:20 Mean in the King James?
Then Jeremiah said unto all the people, to the men, and to the women, and to all the people which had given him that answer, 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
Jeremiah’s speech begins by turning the people’s own answer back toward them, before its content is even quoted.
THE MEANING
Your spoken answer remains present as something that can be addressed again; it does not end the exchange. The verse gathers men and women into a shared hearing and leaves the content of their response poised to be spoken.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that giving an answer closes the exchange. Here, the answer is precisely what the next speech addresses.
THE ROOT
הָעֹנִים
haʿonim
GROWS FROM
ענה
ʿ-n-h
To answer, respond.
The underlying phrasing identifies the group as the ones answering him and says they answer him a word before the quotation begins. That makes the answer a relational turn in speech rather than a sealed statement: Jeremiah’s next words meet the response the people have already given.
ALSO GROWS
haʿonim: Those answering or responding.
הָעֹנִים
The people are identified by their response, which becomes the reason Jeremiah addresses them.
maʿaneh: An answer or reply.
מַעֲנֶה
This noun form shows an answer as a turn in an exchange, something another person can hear and respond to.
THE PATTERN
A spoken answer remains part of an exchange: it can be heard, addressed, and answered in turn.
Then call thou, and I will answer: or let me speak, and answer thou me.He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him.But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye.THE THREAD
Then call thou, and I will answer: or let me speak, and answer thou me.Both verses use ענה (ʿanah), meaning to answer or respond. Job sets the exchange in both directions, call and answer, speak and be answered, while Jeremiah opens a speech addressed directly to a community’s prior response.
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