What Does Jeremiah 25:5 Mean in the King James?
They said, Turn ye again now every one from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that the LORD hath given unto you and to your fathers for ever and ever:
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 verse makes turning a return to belonging: the way out of harm leads back to ground already given.
THE MEANING
Your return is more than leaving a harmful way; it is movement back into a place you can dwell. The ground is described as already given, so belonging is received rather than built from nothing. Its gift reaches across generations and ages.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that after a harmful turn, belonging must be earned again: the ground is already given, and return leads back into dwelling.
THE ROOT
שׁוּבוּ
shuvu
GROWS FROM
שוב
shuv
Turn back, return.
The word names a return, not self-invention: the turn moves away from the harmful way and toward a place already given. This root can name both return and backsliding, so the direction of the turn matters.
ALSO GROWS
teshuvah: Return, turning.
תְּשׁוּבָה
It makes explicit that turning can be a return to what is already there.
meshuvah: Turning away, backsliding.
מְשׁוּבָה
This branch shows the same root’s other direction: a turn that moves away from the path of return.
וּשְׁבוּ
ushevu
GROWS FROM
ישב
yashav
Sit down, remain, dwell.
The form translated “dwell” belongs to ישב (yashav, sit and dwell), a different root from שוב (shuv, return), yet the sounds echo: shuvu … ushevu. Return resolves into settlement, the turn becomes dwelling on the ground.
ALSO GROWS
yashav: Sit, dwell, settle.
יָשַׁב
The bodily sense of sitting and settling makes dwelling on the given ground concrete.
moshav: Dwelling place, seat.
מוֹשָׁב
This branch evokes the settled habitation that answers the call to return.
נָתַן
natan
GROWS FROM
נתן
natan
Give, set, place.
The ground is already given: נתן (natan, give, set, place) joins gift with placement. Dwelling is received as a place to inhabit, not secured as a prize.
ALSO GROWS
nathun: Given, set in place.
נָתוּן
This form keeps the root’s sense of something placed or granted.
mattanah: Gift.
מַתָּנָה
The gift branch clarifies that the ground is received before it is inhabited.
THE PATTERN
Turning away from the way that harms carries a person back into a place and presence already given.
Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away.And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.THE THREAD
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.Jeremiah’s “turn” and Ezekiel’s “turn yourselves” share שוב (shuv, return): both name a movement back from the way that harms. Ezekiel names ruin as what this return interrupts; Jeremiah shows the life that receives the turning as a return to given ground.
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