What Does Jeremiah 2:9 Mean in the King James?
Wherefore I will yet plead with you, saith the LORD, and with your children’s children will I plead.
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 word translated “plead” names a contention and a case, so the LORD’s repeated address remains open across generations.
THE MEANING
The LORD’s contention remains active in your present, reaching beyond one generation. The repeated word holds the relationship open as a case that cannot be made to disappear with time.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that time alone settles a breach.
THE ROOT
אָרִיב
ʾārîḇ
GROWS FROM
ריב
To contend, dispute, or bring a case.
Under “plead” is the force of a legal contest: this root names both contending and a dispute itself. The repeated verb carries the open case forward through the descendants, making its reach more than a single appeal.
ALSO GROWS
rîḇ: A dispute, controversy, or legal case.
רִיב
The noun shows that the contention can be an issue brought forward and answered, not only an appeal.
merîḇâ: A quarrel or dispute.
מְרִיבָה
This branch carries the same contention into the language of strife, revealing the conflict held within the LORD’s repeated address.
THE PATTERN
When a breach is named, it becomes a case that must be answered.
If there be a controversy between men, and they come unto judgment, that the judges may judge them; then they shall justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked.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.Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.THE THREAD
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.The Hebrew word translated “controversy” shares the root ריב (rîḇ) with Jeremiah’s “plead,” making the same contention audible beneath both English lines. Hosea names what the dispute exposes: truth, faithful love, and knowing God are absent.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us