What Does Jeremiah 26:14 Mean in the King James?

As for me, behold, I am in your hand: do with me as seemeth good and meet unto you.

Jeremiah 26:14 · KJV

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 Hebrew says “good and straight” and places that measure “in your eyes”, the verdict belongs to the people holding power.

THE MEANING

When you are inside another person’s power, this verse gives the vulnerability a clear voice. It leaves the decision and its measure visible: what seems good and straight in their eyes.

THE ROOT

כַּיָּשָׁר

ka-yashar

GROWS FROM

ישר

To be straight, level, or upright.

The KJV’s “meet” can sound like merely suitable, while yashar means straight or upright; the phrase is “good and straight in your eyes.” That keeps the standard inside their sight: the speaker names not only their power over him but the judgment by which they act.

ALSO GROWS

yosher: Uprightness, integrity.

יֹשֶׁר

This noun makes clear that the same root names the quality of being straight or upright.

yesharim: Upright ones.

יְשָׁרִים

The root can describe people as upright; here, it supplies a measure for the action being judged.

כַּטּוֹב

ka-tov

GROWS FROM

טוב

Good, beneficial, or pleasant.

Tov holds goodness and benefit together, and here it is paired with straightness. The line exposes what the holders themselves count as both good and right.

ALSO GROWS

tov: Good, pleasant, beneficial.

טוֹב

This is the word translated “good,” one part of the judgment the speaker names.

tovah: Goodness or benefit.

טוֹבָה

This form keeps the sense of benefit visible alongside yashar’s sense of uprightness.

THE PATTERN

When a person is placed in another’s hand, that holder’s will determines what happens next.

But Abram said unto Sarai, Behold, thy maid is in thy hand; do to her as it pleaseth thee. And when Sarai dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face.

Genesis 16:6 · KJVHagar’s treatment is placed in Sarai’s hands, and the verse shows that this power can wound.

Then Zedekiah the king said, Behold, he is in your hand: for the king is not he that can do any thing against you.

Jeremiah 38:5 · KJVThe king names Jeremiah as being in the officials’ hand and admits he cannot stop their decision.

And while they abode in Galilee, Jesus said unto them, The Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of men:

Matthew 17:22 · KJVJesus names the vulnerability of being given over to human hands.

THE THREAD

And thou shalt do that which is right and good in the sight of the LORD: that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest go in and possess the good land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers,

Deuteronomy 6:18 · KJV

The Hebrew pair yashar and tov appears here too, translated “right and good.” Jeremiah locates those measures in his hearers’ eyes; this verse locates them in the sight of the LORD, making whose judgment counts part of the revelation.

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