What Does Jeremiah 29:5 Mean in the King James?
Build ye houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of 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
The verse joins making a place to remaining in it, and planting to receiving its nourishment: what is built and tended is meant to become life.
THE MEANING
Your life is not separate from the work of making a home, inhabiting it, and tending what grows there. The verse joins dwelling with building, then nourishment with cultivation. Its fruit comes through growth that takes time.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that life can only take root once every circumstance is settled; here, dwelling and cultivation happen while life is still unfolding.
THE ROOT
וְשֵׁבוּ
veshevu
GROWS FROM
ישב
yashav
Sit, remain, dwell
The root ישב (yashav, “sit, remain, dwell”) carries staying inside the idea of inhabiting: to dwell is to take a place and remain there. That deepens “build ye houses” into more than making structures; the houses become places where life settles.
ALSO GROWS
yoshev: One who sits or dwells; a resident
יוֹשֵׁב
This form keeps the inhabitant within the same word family as dwelling.
moshav: Dwelling, settlement, or seat
מוֹשָׁב
It names a place to settle, echoing the verse’s movement from building a house to inhabiting it.
וְנִטְעוּ
venit'u
GROWS FROM
נטע
nataʿ
Plant, set into the ground
The root נטע (nataʿ, “plant, set into the ground”) points to placing something in soil so it can grow. The verse connects that patient work to eating its fruit, holding delayed nourishment inside the act of cultivation.
ALSO GROWS
neti'ah: Planting
נְטִיעָה
It names the act that begins a growth whose yield comes later.
mattaʿ: Planting or plantation
מַטָּע
It carries the root into a planted place, like the gardens whose fruit the verse describes.
בְּנוּ
benu
GROWS FROM
בנה
banah
Build
The root בנה (banah, “build”) links the act to both the builder and the resulting structure. Here, building is immediately followed by dwelling, so the structure is not an end in itself; it becomes a place of lived presence.
ALSO GROWS
boneh: Builder; one who builds
בֹּנֶה
The person doing the work belongs to the same root family as the house being made.
mivneh: Structure or building
מִבְנֶה
It names the formed structure that this verse turns into an inhabited home.
THE PATTERN
Life becomes inhabitable and nourishing when what is built is lived in and what is planted is allowed to bear fruit.
And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them.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 am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.THE THREAD
A Song of degrees for Solomon. Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.Both verses use בנה (banah, “build”), the same Hebrew root. Psalm 127:1 opens the house beyond its construction, asking what sustains it; beside Jeremiah 29:5, building becomes part of a dwelling whose life depends on more than its walls.
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