Jeremiah 2 · Verse 14

Jeremiah 2:14

Is Israel a servant? is he a homeborn slave? why is he spoiled?
Jeremiah 2:14, King James Version

Jeremiah 2:14 in other translations

BSBIs Israel a slave? Was he born into slavery? Why then has he become prey?
WEBIs Israel a slave? Is he born into slavery? Why has he become a captive?
ASVIs Israel a servant? is he a home-born slave? why is he become a prey?
YLTA servant is Israel? Is he a child of the house? Wherefore hath he been for a prey?
DARBYIs Israel a bondman? Is he a home-born slave? Why is he become a spoil?
BBEIs Israel a servant? has he been a house-servant from birth? why has he been made waste?
WebsterIs Israel a servant? is he a home-born slave? why is he laid waste?

What does Jeremiah 2:14 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
14. is he a homeborn slave--No. "Israel is Jehovah's son, even His first-born" (Ex 4:22). Jr 2:16, 18, 36, and the absence of any express contrast of the two parts of the nation are against Eichorn's view, that the prophet proposes to Judah, as yet spared, the case of Israel (the ten tribes) which had been carried away by Assyria as a warning of what they might expect if they should still put their trust in Egypt. "Were Israel's ten tribes of meaner birth than Judah? Certainly not. If, then, the former fell before Assyria, what can Judah hope from Egypt against Assyria? ... Israel" is rather here the whole of the remnant still left in their own land, that is, Judah. "How comes it to pass that the nation which once was under God's special protection (Jr 2:3) is now left at the mercy of the foe as a worthless slave?" The prophet sees this event as if present, though it was still future to Judah (Jr 2:19).

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 14 Is Israel a servant? - Is he a slave purchased with money, or a servant born in the family? He is a son himself. If so, then, why is he spoiled? Not because God has not shown him love and kindness; but because he forsook God, turned to and is joined with idols.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Jeremiah 2:14-19
Is Israel a servant? No, they are the seed of Abraham. We may apply this spiritually: Is the soul of man a slave? No, it is not; but has sold its own liberty, and enslaved itself to divers lusts and passions. The Assyrian princes, like lions, prevailed against Israel. People from Egypt destroyed their glory and strength. They brought these calamities on themselves by departing from the Lord. The use and application of this is, Repent of thy sin, that thy correction may not be thy ruin. What has a Christian to do in the ways of forbidden pleasure or vain sinful mirth, or with the pursuits of covetousness and ambition?

Matthew Henry, 1706 · public domain

Jeremiah 2:14 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

הַעֶ֙בֶד֙ha.'E.ved¿ a slaveH5650
יִשְׂרָאֵ֔לYis.ra.'El[is] IsraelH3478
אִם\־'im-or?H518
יְלִ֥ידye.Lidone born ofH3211
בַּ֖יִתBa.yit[the] householdH1004
ה֑וּאHu'[is] itH1931
מַדּ֖וּעַma.Du.a'why?H4069
הָיָ֥הha.Yahhas it becomeH1961
לָבַֽז\׃la.Vaz<into> plunderH957

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Jeremiah 2:14

  • Exodus 4:22

    And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord, Israel is my son, even my firstborn:

  • Genesis 15:3

    And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir.

  • Isaiah 50:1

    Thus saith the Lord, Where is the bill of your mother’s divorcement, whom I have put away? or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away.

  • Ecclesiastes 2:7

    I got me servants and maidens, and had servants born in my house; also I had great possessions of great and small cattle above all that were in Jerusalem before me:

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Israel.
Ex 4:22; Isa 50:1
he a home-born.
Ge 15:3; Ec 2:7
spoiled. Heb. become a spoil.

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Jeremiah 2:13

    For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.

  • Jeremiah 2:14

    Is Israel a servant? is he a homeborn slave? why is he spoiled?

  • Jeremiah 2:15

    The young lions roared upon him, and yelled, and they made his land waste: his cities are burned without inhabitant.

Read all of Jeremiah 2

Jeremiah 2:14 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		¿Es Israel siervo? ¿es esclavo? ¿por qué ha sido dado en presa?
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Israël est-il un serviteur? Est-il un esclave né dans la maison? Pourquoi est-il mis au pillage?
German
Elberfelder 1871		Ist Israel ein Knecht, oder ist er ein Hausgeborener? Warum ist er zur Beute geworden?
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Numquid servus est Israël, aut vernaculus? quare ergo factus est in prædam?