What Does Jeremiah 11:10 Mean in the King James?
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 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
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
“iniquities” 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” 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 thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them;But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?THE THREAD
Therefore say thou unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye unto me, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith 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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