“Why has Israel become a slave? Why has he been carried away as plunder?
Parallel translations
- WEB Is Israel a slave? Is he born into slavery? Why has he become a captive?
- KJV Is Israel a servant? is he a homeborn slave? why is he spoiled?
- BSB Is Israel a slave? Was he born into slavery? Why then has he become prey?
- NKJV “Is Israel a servant? Is he a homeborn slave? Why is he plundered?
- NASB ¶“Is Israel a slave? Or is he a servant born in the home? Why has he become plunder?
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God asks why Israel, no slave by nature, has become plunder. Their bondage is self-inflicted, not their birthright.
Overview
Yahweh poses rhetorical questions: is Israel a slave, born to servitude? The implied answer is no, yet they have become prey to their enemies. Their captivity is not their natural lot but the bitter fruit of forsaking God, who had made them His free and cherished people.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 4
- Exod 4:22You shall tell Pharaoh, ‘Yahweh says, Israel is my son, my firstborn,
- Isa 50:1Yahweh says, “Where is the bill of your mother’s divorce, with which I have put her away? or to which of my creditors have I sold you? Behold, you were sold for your iniquities, and your mother was put away for your transgressions.
- Eccl 2:7I bought male servants and female servants, and had servants born in my house. I also had great possessions of herds and flocks, above all who were before me in Jerusalem;
- Gen 15:3Abram said, “Behold, to me you have given no children: and, behold, one born in my house is my heir.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Against the failure of false shepherds Jeremiah promises the Righteous Branch, 'The LORD our righteousness,' and the new covenant written on the heart and sealed in the blood of Christ.
How Jeremiah 2:14 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.