What Does Jeremiah 11:15 Mean in the King James?

What hath my beloved to do in mine house, seeing she hath wrought lewdness with many, and the holy flesh is passed from thee? when thou doest evil, then thou rejoicest.

Jeremiah 11:15 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

Being beloved and standing in the house does not make rejoicing in evil compatible with what is set apart.

THE MEANING

You can claim the place of the beloved and still be joined to many; this verse holds that betrayal beside belonging. It says the holy flesh passes from you while you do evil and rejoice.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The belief that being beloved or standing in God’s house makes betrayal harmless is undone: the verse places belovedness beside the passing of what is set apart.

THE ROOT

מְזִמָּה

mezimmah

GROWS FROM

זמם

z-m-m

To devise, plan, or plot.

The word for lewdness grows from the seed of devising: it can describe a purpose or plan, and here it names wickedness enacted with many. That root gives the charge the weight of deliberate entanglement, rather than a vague stain.

ALSO GROWS

zamam: To plan, devise, or plot.

זָמַם

This verb exposes the planning sense beneath the verse’s charge of lewdness.

mezimmah: Purpose or discretion; in this verse, lewdness or wicked intent.

מְזִמָּה

The same word family can describe discernment or a wicked scheme, showing how the purpose being devised gives the act its direction.

קֹדֶשׁ

qodesh

GROWS FROM

קדש

q-d-sh

To set apart or consecrate.

“holy flesh” in this verse is qodesh. Here, set-apartness is attached directly to flesh, not only to an abstract status. The verse says that this consecrated thing passes from you as evil becomes your rejoicing.

ALSO GROWS

qadosh: Set apart.

קָדוֹשׁ

This adjective carries the same set-apart quality named in the phrase “holy flesh.”

qadash: To set apart or consecrate.

קָדַשׁ

This verb makes the root’s action visible: the flesh belongs to what has been set apart.

THE PATTERN

Sacred proximity does not erase the contradiction between what is set apart and what is practiced.

Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, saith the LORD.

Jeremiah 7:11 · KJVThe house bears the LORD’s name, yet the verse names the robbery taking place within it.

But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth? Seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee.

Psalm 50:16-17 · KJVThe speaker places covenant words beside the rejection of the instruction they carry.

If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

1 Corinthians 3:17 · KJVThe verse holds the temple’s set-apartness beside the act of defiling it.

THE THREAD

Israel was holiness unto the LORD, and the firstfruits of his increase: all that devour him shall offend; evil shall come upon them, saith the LORD.

Jeremiah 2:3 · KJV

Both verses use ⁨קֹדֶשׁ⁩ (qodesh, set-apartness): here as “holy flesh,” and there as Israel’s holiness unto the LORD. The shared root lets you hear what passes away in Jeremiah 11:15 as the loss of what had been set apart to him.

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