What Does Jeremiah 8:9 Mean in the King James?
The wise men are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken: lo, they have rejected the word of the LORD; and what wisdom is in them?
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 tests wisdom by whether the LORD’s word is received, exposing the “wise” title as empty when that word is rejected.
THE MEANING
The verse exposes the gap between being regarded as wise and having wisdom within: the LORD’s word is refused, and the question of what wisdom remains is immediate. It speaks now wherever confident judgment sets itself against what the LORD says.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A reputation for wisdom proves that wisdom is truly present.
THE ROOT
חָכָם
ḥākām
GROWS FROM
חכם
to be wise or skillful
“wise / wisdom” in this verse is ḥākām. “Wise men” and “wisdom” grow from the same Hebrew root. The question cuts through the title and asks whether wisdom is actually present in those who refuse the LORD’s word.
ALSO GROWS
ḥākām: a wise or skillful person
חָכָם
This is the identity assigned to the people whose choices the verse examines.
ḥokhmāh: wisdom or skill
חָכְמָה
The verse repeats the same root to ask whether the quality itself is present, not merely its title.
דָּבָר
dāvār
GROWS FROM
דבר
to speak; a word, matter, or affair
The Hebrew dāvār can name both a spoken word and a matter or thing. The rejected word is therefore the LORD’s utterance and the matter it sets before the reader; wisdom is not detached from that reality.
ALSO GROWS
dibber: he spoke
דִּבֵּר
This verb shares the root and makes the spoken quality of the LORD’s word explicit.
devarim: words or matters
דְּבָרִים
This plural shows the root’s range: what is spoken can also be the matter at hand.
THE PATTERN
Wisdom becomes visible in how the LORD’s word is received and enacted, not in the title someone carries.
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.THE THREAD
Hear, O earth: behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto my words, nor to my law, but rejected it.Jeremiah 6:19 shares the roots for “words” (דָּבָר, dāvār) and “rejected” (מָאַס, mā’as) with Jeremiah 8:9. It opens the current verse further by showing the same refusal: the LORD’s words are not heard, and they are rejected.
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