What Does Jeremiah 3:6 Mean in the King James?
The LORD said also unto me in the days of Josiah the king, Hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel hath done? she is gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there hath played the harlot.
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
“Backsliding” is formed from the same Hebrew root that means “turn” and “return,” so even the name of estrangement contains the motion of return.
THE MEANING
The verse brings a present pattern into view: a person can search every height and green canopy for life while giving allegiance elsewhere. Its Hebrew word for “backsliding” is built from the root for turning and returning, so estrangement is named with a word that still holds the motion of return.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that turning away fixes your identity forever: the Hebrew root beneath “backsliding” is שׁוּב (shuv, “turn/return”), which also names the movement back.
THE ROOT
מְשֻׁבָה
meshubah
GROWS FROM
שׁוּב
turn, return
מְשֻׁבָה (meshubah, “backsliding”) is built from שׁוּב (shuv, “turn/return”). The English word can sound like a fixed category, while its Hebrew source retains the root for turning and returning.
ALSO GROWS
shuv: to turn, return
שׁוּב
This verb shares the root’s three consonants and makes the turning inside “backsliding” plain.
teshuvah: return, turning back
תְּשׁוּבָה
This noun is formed from the same root and makes its return-direction explicit.
הֹלְכָה
holekhah
GROWS FROM
הלך
walk, go
The phrase “gone up” also carries the Hebrew movement of הֹלְכָה (holekhah), from הלך (halakh, “walk/go”). The references to every high mountain and every green tree give that movement a roaming quality.
ALSO GROWS
halakh: to walk, go
הָלַךְ
This is the verb from the same root and shows the movement carried by the verse’s wording.
halikhah: walking, journey
הֲלִיכָה
This noun grows from the same root and brings out the passage’s image of movement across many places.
mahalakh: course, progression
מַהֲלָךְ
This word shares the root and shows how walking can also describe a course of movement.
THE PATTERN
Departure and return are forms of turning, so the Hebrew names estrangement with a root that also names the movement back.
Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the LORD our God.O Israel, return unto the LORD thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;THE THREAD
Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the LORD our God.Jeremiah 3:22 places מְשֻׁבָה (meshubah, “backsliding”) beside שׁוּבוּ (shuvu, “return”), both formed from שׁוּב (shuv, “turn/return”). The repeated root names estrangement and the turn back in the same line, then joins return with healing.
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