What Does Jeremiah 7:13 Mean in the King James?
And now, because ye have done all these works, saith the LORD, and I spake unto you, rising up early and speaking, but ye heard not; and I called you, but ye answered 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 call keeps arriving, but it never becomes hearing or answer.
THE MEANING
You are addressed repeatedly, and the verse names your nonresponse plainly: you do not hear, and you do not answer. Your actions and your silence stand together; the words reach you, but are not received as a summons that draws forth a reply.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that hearing words is the same as receiving them: speech can reach you without becoming heed or response.
THE ROOT
שְׁמַעְתֶּם
shemaʿtem
GROWS FROM
שמע
To hear, listen, or heed.
“heard not” in this verse is shemaʿtem. The verb translated “heard” carries a range from hearing to heeding, so the failure here is not a lack of sound but a failure of reception. The separate “answered not” makes visible how that missing reception reaches into response.
ALSO GROWS
shamaʿ: Hear, listen, heed.
שָׁמַע
The verse’s failure to hear is a failure to receive the address as something that calls for a response.
shemuʿah: A report or tidings; what is heard.
שְׁמוּעָה
A message can arrive as something heard, while this verse names the deeper absence: it is not received.
shomeaʿ: One who hears or listens.
שֹׁמֵעַ
The word for a hearer points to a posture of listening that the verse says is absent.
עֲנִיתֶם
ʿanitem
GROWS FROM
ענה
To answer or respond.
“answered not” in this verse is ʿanitem. The verse gives the silence its own verb: the call is made, but no reply follows. Beside the failed hearing, this shows the address breaking down at both reception and response.
ALSO GROWS
maʿaneh: An answer or reply.
מַעֲנֶה
The noun names the response absent from the verse’s unanswered call.
ʿoneh: One who answers; answering.
עֹנֶה
The participle names the responding person, while the verse describes no one taking that place.
THE PATTERN
An address becomes heard in the full sense when it is received and answered.
Therefore will I number you to the sword, and ye shall all bow down to the slaughter: because when I called, ye did not answer; when I spake, ye did not hear; but did evil before mine eyes, and did choose that wherein I delighted not.But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!THE THREAD
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:The opening verb, שְׁמַע (shemaʿ, hear and respond), shares the root שמע with Jeremiah’s “heard not.” Deuteronomy opens with this call to hear; Jeremiah exposes the break where the address reaches the person but no response follows.
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