Bible Strands
Jeremiah 2:4
Hear the word of the LORD, O house of Jacob, and all you families of the house of Israel.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The prophet Jeremiah delivers a divine summons from Yahweh to the descendants of Jacob and the clans of Israel. This address follows the declaration of Israel's former status as holy firstfruits and precedes Yahweh's rhetorical question about their ancestors' idolatry.
The words — The imperative שִׁמְע֥וּ (shim.'U) means "hear" and introduces the phrase דְבַר־יְהוָ֖ה (de.var-Yah.weh), literally "the word of Yahweh." The audience is identified as בֵּ֣ית יַעֲקֹ֑ב (beit ya.'a.Ko), "the house of Jacob," alongside מִשְׁפְּח֖וֹת בֵּ֥ית (mish.pe.Chot beit), "the clans of the house of Israel."
The thread — This prophetic summons appears in Isaiah 51:1 and Jeremiah 7:2, where the same verb calls Israel to attention before covenant accountability. Jeremiah 5:21 later contrasts this command with the people's reported spiritual deafness.
Why it lands — The text demands immediate auditory attention to Yahweh's message before any explanation of their covenant breach is provided. It requires the listener to acknowledge the speaker's authority prior to confronting their own straying.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Hear ye the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel:
Cross-references
- Isaiah 51:1 “Listen to Me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the LORD: Look to the rock from which you were cut, and to the quarry from which you were hewn.
- Jeremiah 5:21 “Hear this, O foolish and senseless people, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear.
- Jeremiah 7:2 “Stand in the gate of the house of the LORD and proclaim this message: Hear the word of the LORD, all you people of Judah who enter through these gates to worship the LORD.
- Jeremiah 13:15 Listen and give heed. Do not be arrogant, for the LORD has spoken.
- Jeremiah 19:3 saying, ‘Hear the word of the LORD, O kings of Judah and residents of Jerusalem. This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: I am going to bring such disaster on this place that the ears of all who hear of it will ring,
- Jeremiah 31:1 “At that time,” declares the LORD, “I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they will be My people.”
- Jeremiah 33:24 “Have you not noticed what these people are saying: ‘The LORD has rejected the two families He had chosen’? So they despise My people and no longer regard them as a nation.
- Jeremiah 34:4 Yet hear the word of the LORD, O Zedekiah king of Judah. This is what the LORD says concerning you: You will not die by the sword;
- Jeremiah 44:24 Then Jeremiah said to all the people, including all the women, “Hear the word of the LORD, all those of Judah who are in the land of Egypt.
- Hosea 4:1 Hear the word of the LORD, O children of Israel, for the LORD has a case against the people of the land: “There is no truth, no loving devotion, and no knowledge of God in the land!