What Does Jeremiah 18:11 Mean in the King James?
Now therefore go to, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you: return ye now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good.
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
“Frame” and “potter” grow from the same Hebrew root, so the warning’s consequence is pictured as something shaped while another course remains open.
THE MEANING
The warning speaks into a harmful way: its consequence is being formed, and the call to turn comes now. The reader’s way and actions can still be made good, so consequence and the possibility of a changed course stand together.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a destructive course makes its outcome unchangeable; the warning itself includes a call to turn.
THE ROOT
יוֹצֵר
yotser
GROWS FROM
יצר
yatsar
To form or shape.
The word translated “frame” comes from the root used for a potter forming clay. That link places the threatened outcome inside the chapter’s shaping image, while the call to turn appears in the same sentence.
ALSO GROWS
yotser: One who forms; potter.
יוֹצֵר
The same form names the potter in Jeremiah 18:6, connecting the warning to the chapter’s image of shaping.
yetser: Formation, inclination, or design.
יֵצֶר
This branch carries forming into the shaping of an inclination or course.
מַחֲשָׁבָה
machashavah
GROWS FROM
חשב
chashav
To think, reckon, or plan.
The Hebrew verb translated “devise” and the noun translated “device” come from the same root. What sounds like English wordplay is one Hebrew family describing a deliberately conceived plan.
ALSO GROWS
chashav: To think, reckon, or devise.
חָשַׁב
This is the root verb behind “devise,” linking the act of planning directly to the “device” being planned.
cheshbon: Account or calculation.
חֶשְׁבּוֹן
The sense of reckoning shows the plan as thought worked out, sharpening the deliberate quality of the warning.
שׁוּבוּ
shuvu
GROWS FROM
שוב
shuv
To turn back or return.
“return” in this verse is shuvu. The summons is a turn back from a harmful way. A related form can describe turning away or backsliding, so this root holds both departure from the path and the possibility of returning.
ALSO GROWS
shuv: To turn back or return.
שׁוּב
The root verb makes the change in direction explicit in the verse’s summons.
meshubah: Turning away; backsliding.
מְשׁוּבָה
This related form names movement away from the path, giving “return” the sense of reversing that direction.
THE PATTERN
A harmful course can be interrupted by turning, changing what follows.
And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord GOD. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;THE THREAD
O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.The Hebrew behind “frame” shares the root יצר (yatsar, to form) with the potter in this verse. The image of clay being shaped opens the warning as a forming process, with the call to turn still present.
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