What Does Jeremiah 22:9 Mean in the King James?
Then they shall answer, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD their God, and worshipped other gods, and served them.
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
What is forsaken does not leave an empty space: allegiance takes shape in the things bowed to and served.
THE MEANING
When you leave the covenant that names your relation to the LORD, allegiance does not vanish: you bow before and serve other gods. The departure becomes visible in posture and ongoing service; what you leave is named alongside what now receives your devotion.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie this undoes is that abandoning the covenant leaves you neutral; the verse depicts bowing and service redirected toward other gods.
THE ROOT
וַיִּשְׁתַּחֲווּ
wayyishtachavu
GROWS FROM
שחה
To bow low or prostrate oneself.
The verb rendered “worshipped” names the body’s lowering, so devotion here is visible posture, not merely an abstract idea. Paired with service, it shows allegiance in both the bow and the ongoing labor.
ALSO GROWS
shachah: To bow down or prostrate oneself.
שָׁחָה
This branch makes the act bodily: the worshiper lowers themselves.
mishtachaveh: One who is bowing down.
מִשְׁתַּחֲוֶה
The same root can name the person in the posture, making devotion visible in the one who bows.
עָזְבוּ
ʿazvu
GROWS FROM
עזב
To leave or abandon.
This root names departure, not a passing doubt: the verse describes a relational break. Its branches can name both the act of leaving and the one left forsaken, bringing the rupture into view.
ALSO GROWS
ʿazav: To leave; in Genesis 2:24, a man “shall leave” his father and mother.
עָזַב
The same root describes leaving one bond as another attachment takes shape.
ʿazuvah: Forsaken; Isaiah 62:4 says, “Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken.”
עֲזוּבָה
The root can name the condition of the one left behind, revealing the relational cost carried by “forsaken.”
וַיַּעַבְדוּם
wayyaʿavdum
GROWS FROM
עבד
To work, labor, or serve.
“served” in this verse is wayyaʿavdum. This root spans work and service, and it also gives the noun for a servant. The transfer of allegiance therefore reaches beyond a bowed moment into ongoing labor and service.
ALSO GROWS
ʿavad: To work or serve; Genesis 2:15 uses this root for “to dress” the garden.
עָבַד
The same root can describe labor, showing how service is enacted through continuing work.
ʿeved: A servant.
עֶבֶד
The related noun names the person by their service, drawing the link between what one does and whom one serves.
ʿavodah: Work, labor, or service.
עֲבוֹדָה
This noun keeps the root’s range together: service is labor carried out over time.
THE PATTERN
When covenant allegiance is abandoned, devotion becomes visible in what is bowed to and served.
Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them;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?And they shall answer, Because they forsook the LORD their God, who brought forth their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and have taken hold upon other gods, and have worshipped them, and served them: therefore hath the LORD brought upon them all this evil.THE THREAD
If ye forsake the LORD, and serve strange gods, then he will turn and do you hurt, and consume you, after that he hath done you good.The same roots for forsaking and serving appear together here, pairing departure with labor given to another. Joshua’s verse states the consequence in severe terms, keeping the cost of that transfer in view.
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