What Does Jeremiah 3:5 Mean in the King James?
Will he reserve his anger for ever? will he keep it to the end? Behold, thou hast spoken and done evil things as thou couldest.
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 plea for anger to end arrives while you are still able to carry the evil through.
THE MEANING
The question of whether God keeps anger forever stands beside the fact that you keep speaking and doing what is evil. The verse holds both realities in view: the desire for anger to end and your continuing capacity to do harm.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that asking for God’s anger to end makes ongoing harm irrelevant.
THE ROOT
יִנְטֹר
yintor
GROWS FROM
נ־ט־ר
n-ṭ-r
To retain or hold; in anger contexts, to hold a grudge.
English “reserve” can suggest setting something aside, while נטר carries the sense of retaining or holding on. The question is whether God will continue to hold anger, even as the verse names the wrongdoing that continues.
ALSO GROWS
tittor: Hold a grudge; retain resentment.
תִּטֹּר
Leviticus 19:18 uses this form in the phrase “nor bear any grudge,” showing the same root’s connection to retaining anger.
nōṭēr: One who retains or holds wrath.
נֹטֵר
Nahum 1:2 uses this form for one who reserves wrath, giving “reserve” the sense of anger held over time.
יִשְׁמֹר
yishmor
GROWS FROM
ש־מ־ר
sh-m-r
To watch, guard, or keep.
“keep” in this verse is yishmor. Hebrew pairs two different roots: first retaining, then guarding or keeping watch. Together they make the question about whether anger remains held and guarded “to the end.”
ALSO GROWS
shamar: Watch, guard, or keep.
שָׁמַר
This is the verb used in the verse, describing anger as something kept rather than simply felt.
mishmeret: A watch, guard duty, or charge.
מִשְׁמֶרֶת
This related form shows the root’s watchful quality, which deepens the sense of “keep it” in the verse.
וַתּוּכָלִי
vattukhali
GROWS FROM
י־כ־ל
y-k-l
To be able, have capacity, or prevail.
“as thou couldest” in this verse is vattukhali. The final verb makes the wrongdoing active: you are able to do it, and you carry it through. The root can describe capacity or prevailing, so the phrase holds agency alongside the question about anger.
ALSO GROWS
yāḵōl: Be able; can.
יָכֹל
This form gives the direct sense of capacity carried by “couldest.”
lō-yāḵōl: Was not able; could not prevail.
לֹא־יָכֹל
In Genesis 32:25 the same root describes not prevailing, showing its range from ability to overcoming.
THE PATTERN
Mercy can end the retaining of anger without making ongoing wrongdoing disappear.
And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever.Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;THE THREAD
He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever.Both verses use נטר (natar, retain) for keeping anger, so the verb that frames Jeremiah’s question appears in a direct answer: God does not retain anger forever. That answer does not erase Jeremiah’s naming of ongoing evil; mercy and accountability remain side by side.
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