What Does Jeremiah 7:2 Mean in the King James?
Stand in the gate of the LORD’s house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the LORD, all ye of Judah, that enter in at these gates to worship the LORD.
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 gate to worship opens into hearing: the word asks for a response, not just an entrance.
THE MEANING
The word meets you at the threshold of worship with a call to hear. Your arrival and your bowing are joined to receiving what is spoken and responding to it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that arriving at the sacred place or bowing down is enough if the word is never heard.
THE ROOT
שִׁמְעוּ
shim'u
GROWS FROM
שמע
To hear, listen, or heed.
The call is more than receiving sound: שמע carries the sense of listening and heeding. The word is proclaimed at the gate, and those entering to bow down are called to hear and answer it.
ALSO GROWS
shama: To hear, listen, or heed.
שָׁמַע
It is the verb behind the command: worship at the gate includes attentive hearing.
shemu'ah: A report or message that is heard.
שְׁמוּעָה
The branch links hearing with a message received, fitting the proclaimed word that reaches those entering the gates.
לְהִשְׁתַּחֲוֹת
lehishtachavot
GROWS FROM
שחה
To bow low, bend down, or prostrate oneself.
Here, “worship” names a bodily lowering, not only an inward feeling. The verse places that posture beside the call to hear: the body bows while the ear receives the word.
ALSO GROWS
shachah: To bow down or prostrate oneself.
שָׁחָה
This is the root verb beneath the action translated as worship.
hishtachavah: To bow oneself down.
הִשְׁתַּחֲוָה
This related form makes the posture explicit: entering to worship means coming to bow.
THE PATTERN
The threshold of worship joins bodily approach with hearing the word.
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker. For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. To day if ye will hear his voice,Immediately therefore I sent to thee; and thou hast well done that thou art come. Now therefore are we all here present before God, to hear all things that are commanded thee of God.THE THREAD
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:Jeremiah’s command “hear” and Deuteronomy’s opening “Hear” share the root שמע. That shared root brings the call at the temple gate into the same pattern: hearing the word is part of approaching the LORD.
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