Jeremiah 2:14
in Jeremiah 2Is Israel a slave? Was he born into slavery? Why then has he become prey?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Is Israel a servant? is he a home-born slave? why is he become a prey?
KJV
Is Israel a servant? is he a homeborn slave? why is he spoiled?
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This verse in Jeremiah 2
Commentary
4 notes on this verse(Verse 14) Is the Israelite a servant or a native? I believe that from this place, the Jews who were filled with pride said to the Savior: We are the seed of Abraham and have never served anyone. How do you say, 'You will be free' (John 8:33)? Ignorant that everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin, and each one serves the one by whom they are overcome.
This site's exposition
Is Israel a servant? is he a homeborn slave?
on Jeremiah 2:14-19
The question, is Israel a servant, is he a homeborn slave, why is he spoiled, treats the nation's ruin as an anomaly needing explanation, since a free heir should not be plundered like property. The young lions that roared upon him and burned his cities without inhabitant are read by the bench as Egypt and Assyria in figure, the very powers Israel courted for protection. The chapter's sharpest question follows, what hast thou to do in the way of Egypt, to drink the waters of Sihor, since going to Egypt or Assyria for help was itself a rejection of the God who had already delivered them from both.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
A slave - Slave is here added to home-born to express the baseness of his service, because the master had power to make those slaves who were born of slaves in his house. Why - Why is he thus tyrannized over, as if strangers had the same right over him as owners over their slaves?
Israel is my son, my first-born, Exod. iv. They are children; they are heirs. Nay, their extraction is noble; they are the seed of Abraham, God's friend, and of Jacob his chosen.
The words behind it
9 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הַעֶ֙בֶד֙ | haeved | ¿ a slave | H5650 → | 799 times |
| יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל | yisrael | [is] Israel | H3478 → | 2507 times |
| אִם־ | ʾim- | or? | H518 → | 1069 times |
| יְלִ֥יד | yelid | one born of | H3211 → | |
| בַּ֖יִת | bayit | [the] household | H1004 → | 2046 times |
| ה֑וּא | hu' | [is] it | H1931 → | 1879 times |
| מַדּ֖וּעַ | madua' | why? | H4069 → | 72 times |
| הָיָ֥ה | hayah | has it become | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| לָבַֽז׃ | lavaz | <into> plunder | H957 → | 25 times |
הַעֶ֙בֶד֙¿ a slave
haevedH5650 →799 times
יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל[is] Israel
yisraelH3478 →2507 times
אִם־or?
ʾim-H518 →1069 times
יְלִ֥ידone born of
yelidH3211 →
בַּ֖יִת[the] household
bayitH1004 →2046 times
ה֑וּא[is] it
hu'H1931 →1879 times
מַדּ֖וּעַwhy?
madua'H4069 →72 times
הָיָ֥הhas it become
hayahH1961 →3559 times
לָבַֽז׃<into> plunder
lavazH957 →25 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Isaiah 50:1This is what the LORD says: “Where is your mother’s certificate of divorce with which I sent her away? Or to which of My creditors did I sell you? Look, you were sold for…
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 32:30
How could one man pursue a thousand, or two put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, unless the LORD had given them up?
- Jeremiah 3:8
She saw that because faithless Israel had committed adultery, I gave her a certificate of divorce and sent her away. Yet that unfaithful sister Judah had no fear and prostituted herself as well.
- Matthew 18:25
Since the man was unable to pay, the master ordered that he be sold to pay his debt, along with his wife and children and everything he owned.
- Deuteronomy 32:30
Through
Exodus 4:22Then tell Pharaoh that this is what the LORD says: ‘Israel is My firstborn son,
it leads to
- Hosea 11:1
When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called My son.
- Romans 9:4
the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory and the covenants; theirs the giving of the law, the temple worship, and the promises.
- Jeremiah 31:9
They will come with weeping, and by their supplication I will lead them; I will make them walk beside streams of waters, on a level path where they will not stumble. For I am…
- Hebrews 12:23
in joyful assembly, to the congregation of the firstborn, enrolled in heaven. You have come to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect,
- Exodus 19:5–6
Now if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, you will be My treasured possession out of all the nations—for the whole earth is Mine.
- Hosea 11:1
Where this verse is studied
No study on the site is anchored to this verse yet.
Also on Jeremiah 2: 3 studies that walk through this chapter ▾
About Jeremiah
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Jerome, Commentary on Jeremiah; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.