The Meaning of Jeremiah 2:21 Explained

Jeremiah 2:21

KJV: Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me?

YLT: And I planted thee a choice vine, wholly a true seed, And how hast thou been turned to Me, To the degenerate shoots of a strange vine?

Darby: And I, I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed; how then art thou turned into the degenerate shoots of a strange vine unto me?

ASV: Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then art thou turned into the degenerate branches of a foreign vine unto me?

KJV Reverse Interlinear

Yet I had planted  thee a noble vine,  wholly a right  seed:  how then art thou turned  into the degenerate plant  of a strange  vine  unto me? 

What does Jeremiah 2:21 Mean?

Verse Meaning

Yahweh had planted Israel in the Promised Land as a choice vine, as His faithful seed, but Israel had grown up as a degenerate vine that bore the marks of foreign stock (cf. Isaiah 5:1-7; Ezekiel 15; Matthew 21:33-46). "Choice vine" is literally a sorek vine, a vine that thrived between Jerusalem and the Mediterranean Sea-especially in the Sorek Valley-and bore high-quality grapes.

Chapter Summary: Jeremiah 2

1  God having shown his former kindness,
5  expostulates with the people on their causeless and unexampled revolt
14  They are the causes of their own calamities
18  The sins and idolatries of Judah
35  Her confidence is rejected

What do the individual words in Jeremiah 2:21 mean?

And yet I had planted you a noble vine wholly a seed Of highest quality then how have you turned before Me Into the degenerate plant of vine a sojourner
וְאָֽנֹכִי֙ נְטַעְתִּ֣יךְ שֹׂרֵ֔ק כֻּלֹּ֖ה זֶ֣רַע אֱמֶ֑ת וְאֵיךְ֙ נֶהְפַּ֣כְתְּ לִ֔י סוּרֵ֖י הַגֶּ֥פֶן נָכְרִיָּֽה

וְאָֽנֹכִי֙  And  yet  I 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Pronoun, first person common singular
Root: אָנׄכִי  
Sense: I (first pers.
נְטַעְתִּ֣יךְ  had  planted  you 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Perfect, first person common singular, second person feminine singular
Root: נָטַע  
Sense: to plant, fasten, fix, establish.
שֹׂרֵ֔ק  a  noble  vine 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular construct
Root: שֹׂרֵק  
Sense: choice species of vine, choice grapes.
כֻּלֹּ֖ה  wholly 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular construct, third person masculine singular
Root: כֹּל  
Sense: all, the whole.
זֶ֣רַע  a  seed 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular construct
Root: זֶרַע  
Sense: seed, sowing, offspring.
אֱמֶ֑ת  Of  highest  quality 
Parse: Noun, feminine singular
Root: אֱמֶת  
Sense: firmness, faithfulness, truth.
וְאֵיךְ֙  then  how 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Interjection
Root: אֵיךְ 
Sense: how? interj.
נֶהְפַּ֣כְתְּ  have  you  turned 
Parse: Verb, Nifal, Perfect, second person feminine singular
Root: הָפַךְ  
Sense: to turn, overthrow, overturn.
לִ֔י  before  Me 
Parse: Preposition, first person common singular
סוּרֵ֖י  Into  the  degenerate  plant 
Parse: Adjective, masculine plural construct
Root: סוּר 
Sense: degenerate.
הַגֶּ֥פֶן  of  vine 
Parse: Article, Noun, common singular
Root: גֶּפֶן  
Sense: vine, vine tree.
נָכְרִיָּֽה  a  sojourner 
Parse: Adjective, feminine singular
Root: נָכְרִי  
Sense: foreign, alien.