What Does Jeremiah 2:29 Mean in the King James?
Wherefore will ye plead with me? ye all have transgressed against me, saith the LORD.
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
The whole people plead their case while the verse names the whole people as already in rebellion.
THE MEANING
The verse places the appeal and the rupture in the same frame: everyone pleads with God, and everyone stands accused of rebellion against him. Its force is direct, the appeal does not erase the break being named.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Making a case for innocence does not itself prove innocence; the verse names the rebellion beneath the argument.
THE ROOT
פְּשַׁעְתֶּם
pəshaʿtem
GROWS FROM
פשע
p-š-ʿ
Rebel; break away.
The word translated “transgressed” carries the sense of rebellion, a breaking away. The verse makes that rupture collective: “all of you” have broken away against God.
ALSO GROWS
pāshaʿ: To rebel.
פָּשַׁע
The verb names an act of breaking away, giving “transgressed” the force of rebellion.
peshaʿ: Rebellion; a breaking away.
פֶּשַׁע
This related noun makes the rupture explicit in the verse’s accusation.
תָּרִיבוּ
tārîvû
GROWS FROM
ריב
r-y-b
Contend; bring a dispute.
The verb carries the sense of contention, so the question sounds like a dispute before God, not merely a quiet request to be heard. The same root returns in verse 35, where God says, “I will plead with thee,” making the dispute reciprocal.
ALSO GROWS
rîv: Dispute; controversy.
רִיב
The noun shows the conflict contained within the act translated “plead.”
merîvāh: Quarrel; strife.
מְרִיבָה
This branch makes the contentious edge of the dispute audible.
THE PATTERN
God’s dispute exposes what human claims cannot erase.
Yet thou sayest, Because I am innocent, surely his anger shall turn from me. Behold, I will plead with thee, because thou sayest, I have not sinned.Hear the word of the LORD, ye children of Israel: for the LORD hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.THE THREAD
Yet thou sayest, Because I am innocent, surely his anger shall turn from me. Behold, I will plead with thee, because thou sayest, I have not sinned.The Hebrew root ריב (rîv, contend or dispute) appears in “plead” in both verses. Verse 35 sharpens the connection: the claim “I have not sinned” is precisely where the dispute is exposed.
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