What Does Jeremiah 11:10 Mean?
They have turned back to the crookednesses of their fathers, the first ones, who refused to hear and respond to my words. And they walked after other gods to serve them. The house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken the covenant I cut with their fathers.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
They are turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, which refused to hear my words; and they went after other gods to serve them: the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant which I made with their fathers.THE KEY
Inherited crookedness becomes a present path when people return to it after refusing to hear.
THE MEANING
The verse names a present pattern: inherited crookedness becomes lived again when the words that call for response are refused. Attention follows other gods, and service binds a person to what has taken their place. The broken covenant is the visible fracture in that changed allegiance.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie this undoes is that inherited crookedness is repeated without participation: the verse names it as something people return to, pursue, and serve.
THE ROOT
וַיָּשֻׁבוּ
vayashuvu
GROWS FROM
שׁוב
shuv
to return, turn back
“turned back” in this verse is vayashuvu. The motion itself is simply return; its destination makes it a return to inherited crookedness. The same root can name turning toward the LORD or backsliding, so the hinge is where the turning goes.
ALSO GROWS
teshuvah: return, turning back
תְּשׁוּבָה
It makes clear that turning is a direction of movement, not a verdict by itself.
meshubah: backsliding, turning away
מְשׁוּבָה
This branch shows how return can become a repeated turning away when its destination is crookedness.
עֲוֹנֹת
avonot
GROWS FROM
עון
avon
crookedness, bentness
“crookednesses” in this verse is avonot. The word carries the shape of something bent, not merely an abstract offense. The verse shows this crookedness being received as a pattern and then entered again through return.
ALSO GROWS
avon: crookedness, guilt
עָוֹן
The singular keeps the word’s image of a bent path beneath the English “iniquity.”
avonot: crookednesses, guilt
עֲוֹנוֹת
The plural points to a pattern of crooked acts that can be repeated across generations.
לִשְׁמֹעַ
lishmoa
GROWS FROM
שמע
shama
to hear, listen
“hear and respond” in this verse is lishmoa. The refusal is not merely to receive sound; this is hearing that carries a response. The verse pairs refused hearing with following and serving, showing how the direction of attention shapes allegiance.
ALSO GROWS
shema: hear and respond
שְׁמַע
This form makes the response-bearing sense of hearing visible in the refusal.
shemuah: report, heard message
שְׁמוּעָה
This branch connects hearing with what is received as a message, not sound alone.
THE PATTERN
When hearing is refused, return turns toward rival powers, and service makes that turn concrete.
But if your heart turns aside, so that you will not hear and respond, but you are driven away, and bow down to other gods and serve them.But they did not hear and respond, nor bend their ear, but walked in their plans and in the stiffness of their evil heart, and went backward and not forward.Do you not know that to the one you set yourselves beside as servants for hearing and response, his servants you are, the one you hear and respond to; whether of falling short unto death, or of hearing and response unto alignment?THE THREAD
Therefore say to them, Thus says the LORD of hosts, Turn to me, says the LORD of hosts, and I will turn to you, says the LORD of hosts.Jeremiah’s “turned back” and Zechariah’s “Turn ye unto me” are forms of the same Hebrew root, shuv (שׁוב), meaning to return. Jeremiah shows return toward inherited crookedness; Zechariah shows the same movement directed toward the LORD.
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