Jeremiah 2:21

21 I had planted you like a choice vine of sound and reliable stock. How then did you turn against me into a corrupt, wild vine?

Jeremiah 2:21 in Other Translations

21 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?

21 Yet I planted you a choice vine, wholly of pure seed. How then have you turned degenerate and become a wild vine?

21 But I was the one who planted you, choosing a vine of the purest stock—the very best. How did you grow into this corrupt wild vine?

21 You were a select vine when I planted you from completely reliable stock. And look how you've turned out - a tangle of rancid growth, a poor excuse for a vine.

21 I planted you, a choice vine from the very best seed. How then could you turn into a degenerate, foreign vine?

Jeremiah 2:21 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 2:21

Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed
It is usual to compare the people of the Jews to a vineyard, and to vines; and their settlement in the land of Canaan to the planting of vines in a vineyard; see ( Isaiah 5:1-7 ) ( Exodus 15:17 ) ( Psalms 80:8-15 ) . Kimchi says this is spoken concerning Abraham; no doubt respect is had to the Jewish fathers, such as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the twelve patriarchs, Moses, Joshua, and Caleb, and the like; who, having the true and right seed of grace in them, became like choice and noble vines, and brought forth much fruit, and were deserving of imitation by their posterity: how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine
unto me?
like a vine that grows in the woods, and brings forth wild grapes; so these, their sons, degenerating in practice from their fathers, became corrupt in themselves, and unprofitable to God. The Targum of the whole is,

``I set you before me as the plant of a choice vine, all of you doing truth; but how are you changed before me in your corrupt works? ye have declined from my worship, ye are become as a vine in which there is no profit.''

Jeremiah 2:21 In-Context

19 Your wickedness will punish you; your backsliding will rebuke you. Consider then and realize how evil and bitter it is for you when you forsake the LORD your God and have no awe of me,” declares the Lord, the LORD Almighty.

20 “Long ago you broke off your yoke and tore off your bonds; you said, ‘I will not serve you!’ Indeed, on every high hill and under every spreading tree you lay down as a prostitute.

21 I had planted you like a choice vine of sound and reliable stock. How then did you turn against me into a corrupt, wild vine?

22 Although you wash yourself with soap and use an abundance of cleansing powder, the stain of your guilt is still before me,” declares the Sovereign LORD.

23 “How can you say, ‘I am not defiled; I have not run after the Baals’? See how you behaved in the valley; consider what you have done. You are a swift she-camel running here and there,

Cross References

• 1. S Exodus 15:17
• 2. S Psalms 80:8
• 3. S Isaiah 5:4