What Does Jeremiah 5:20 Mean in the King James?
Declare this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, 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
The verse doubles the work of revelation: bring the message into the open, then make it heard.
THE MEANING
This verse meets you with truth moving through a people: it is declared in Jacob’s house and made audible in Judah. Its paired verbs hold declaration and hearing together, while “saying” opens the message into the words that follow.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that privately recognizing a truth completes its passage; here, the message is voiced so others can hear it.
THE ROOT
וְהַשְׁמִיעוּהָ
vehashmi'uha
GROWS FROM
שמע
To hear; in this causative form, to make something heard.
The word translated “publish” carries the concrete sense of causing a message to be heard. Paired with “declare,” it gives public speech two movements: bringing the message forward and carrying it into hearing.
ALSO GROWS
shema: Hear; listen.
שְׁמַע
The familiar command comes from the same root, joining public announcement to the act of hearing.
shemu'ah: A report or tidings.
שְׁמוּעָה
A report is what has been made heard, showing how the root also names the message that travels.
הַגִּידוּ
haggidu
GROWS FROM
נגד
To be in front or conspicuous; to make known, tell, or declare.
“declare” in this verse is haggidu. The verb presents declaration as bringing a matter forward where it can be encountered. The next verb carries that matter into hearing, so the verse joins making known with making audible.
ALSO GROWS
maggid: One who tells or declares.
מַגִּיד
The same root names the one who brings a message forward to be known.
neged: In front of; opposite.
נֶגֶד
This branch preserves the root’s sense of something set before another, an image that illuminates the act of declaring.
THE PATTERN
A truth enters shared life when it is both declared and made audible.
Hear the word of the LORD, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock.Go ye forth of Babylon, flee ye from the Chaldeans, with a voice of singing declare ye, tell this, utter it even to the end of the earth; say ye, The LORD hath redeemed his servant Jacob.Declare his glory among the heathen, his wonders among all people.THE THREAD
Hear the word of the LORD, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock.Jeremiah 31:10 uses the same two roots in reverse order: first hear, then declare. Together, the verses reveal a circuit in which a message is made audible, carried outward, and heard by others.
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