What Does Jeremiah 14:7 Mean?
O LORD, though our crookednesses answer against us, act for the sake of your nature; for our turnings away are many, and we have missed the mark against you.
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
O LORD, though our iniquities testify against us, do thou it for thy name’s sake: for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against thee.THE KEY
The confession does not make a clean record the condition of help; it appeals to the LORD’s name, his nature, while the crookedness and many turnings remain fully named.
THE MEANING
Your crookedness answers against you, and your turns away are many; the verse does not hide the indictment. Still, the prayer rests on the LORD’s name (שֵׁם, shem: nature), seeking help from who the LORD is rather than claiming innocence. The breach remains plain: you have missed against him.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that only a clean record can ground a plea for help dissolves here: the prayer does not deny the indictment but appeals to the LORD’s nature.
THE ROOT
מְשׁוּבֹתֵינוּ
meshûvotênû
GROWS FROM
שׁוּב
to turn, return
“turnings away” in this verse is meshûvotênû. The Hebrew noun for “backslidings” grows from the verb for turning or returning. The many turns away are named with the same root that can name a turn back.
ALSO GROWS
shuv: turn, return
שׁוּב
This is the seed verb behind “backslidings,” holding turning away and turning back within one root.
meshubah: backsliding, turning away
מְשׁוּבָה
This related form names the turning away that the verse says is many.
teshuvah: return, answer
תְּשׁוּבָה
This biblical noun from the same root makes return part of the same movement named by “backslidings.”
עָנוּ
ʿānû
GROWS FROM
ענה
to answer, respond
“answer” in this verse is ʿānû. The Hebrew verb can be heard as “answered against us.” The accusation has a voice in the verse: the crookedness answers against the people in the prayer itself.
ALSO GROWS
anah: answer, respond
עָנָה
This is the verb behind “testify,” making the wrongdoing’s testimony an answering against the speaker.
maʿaneh: answer, response
מַעֲנֶה
This noun from the same root keeps the sense of an answer or response audible within the verse’s testimony.
חָטָאנוּ
ḥāṭāʾnû
GROWS FROM
חטא
to miss, miss the mark
“missed the mark against you” in this verse is ḥāṭāʾnû. The confession uses a verb from the root for missing, while still naming the direction of the breach plainly: “against thee.” The root lets the failure be seen as a specific miss without concealing its consequence.
ALSO GROWS
chet: missing, sin
חֵטְא
This noun from the same root names the miss behind the confession.
chattaʾt: sin; offering for the missing
חַטָּאת
This related form keeps the missing visible even in the language of an offering for it.
THE PATTERN
The appeal for release rests on the nature of the one addressed, even when wrongdoing is plainly named.
For the sake of your nature, LORD, release my crookedness, for it is great.I, even I, I AM, the one who wipes away your rebellion for my own sake, and I will not remember your missed marks.I write to you, little children, because your shortcomings are released to you for the sake of his nature.THE THREAD
Turn back, O turned-away children, and I will heal your turnings-away. Look, we come to you, for you are the LORD our God.Both verses use forms of שׁוּב (shuv: turn, return) for turning and backsliding. The same root holds the turning away and the turning back together, while “I will heal” speaks of release meeting that movement.
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