What Does Jeremiah 24:6 Mean in the King James?
For I will set mine eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them again to this land: and I will build them, and not pull them down; and I will plant them, and not pluck them up.
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
God’s regard for your good does more than bring you back: it builds what can stand and plants what can take root.
THE MEANING
You are seen with a regard turned toward your good. God brings you back and establishes you in two forms at once: what can stand like a built structure and what can live like a planted thing. The promise includes protection against being torn down and pulled up.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A return is only temporary, and whatever is rebuilt in me will be undone again.
THE ROOT
וּנְטַעְתִּים
u-netáʿtîm
GROWS FROM
נטע
To plant, set into soil.
English can make “plant” sound like one more image; the verb grows from נטע (n-t-ʿ, plant), while “pluck them up” comes from נטש (n-t-sh, uproot), echoing the same first two consonants in a sharply opposed pair. The sound-shape matches planting with its undoing, and the sentence says that undoing will not happen.
ALSO GROWS
netaʿ: A plant or planting.
נֶטַע
The promise names what is established as living growth.
mattaʿ: A plantation or planted place.
מַטָּע
The image extends from one planted thing to a place made for rooted growth.
וַהֲשִׁבֹתִים
va-hashivótim
GROWS FROM
שוב
To return or turn back; in this verb form, to bring back.
“bring them again” in this verse is va-hashivótim. The Hebrew verb carries the root שוב (shuv, return or turn back), so the movement is more than arrival at a location: it is a return. The next verbs show that return becoming something established through building and planting.
ALSO GROWS
shuv: To return or turn back.
שׁוּב
This is the seed of the verse’s promise to bring back.
teshuvah: Return or turning back.
תְּשׁוּבָה
The related noun shows how the same root can name a change of direction as well as a return.
וּבְנִיתִים
u-venitím
GROWS FROM
בנה
To build, construct, establish.
The Hebrew בנה (banah, build) speaks of making something stand, not simply bringing someone back to a place. Set beside planting, it gives restoration both a structure and a living root.
ALSO GROWS
binyan: A building or structure.
בִּנְיָן
The related noun makes clear that the verse’s building image carries the sense of what has been established.
mivneh: A structure or construction.
מִבְנֶה
It echoes the movement from return toward something formed and standing.
THE PATTERN
Scripture pairs building and planting as forms of restoration that give life both a structure and a future.
See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.THE THREAD
See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.The verbs “build” and “plant” return in both verses: בנה (banah, build) and נטע (nataʿ, plant). Jeremiah 24:6 holds onto those two acts of establishment and explicitly says they will not be followed by pulling down or uprooting.
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