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?

JEREMIAH 2:21KJV
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Jeremiah 2:21 (KJV)

What does Jeremiah 2:21 mean?

Jeremiah 2:21 describes how God planted Israel as a noble and pure vine, expecting good fruit, but Israel turned into a corrupt and foreign plant instead. The verse uses the image of a vineyard to show God’s disappointment that His people have become something unrecognizable and unfaithful compared to what He intended.

In this verse, the prophet Jeremiah is speaking God’s words to the people of Judah. God reminds them that He began their nation with good intentions and a strong foundation, but now they have changed for the worse. The verse uses the picture of a vineyard because vineyards were familiar and meaningful to people in ancient Israel, making the warning personal and vivid.

The Hebrew behind Jeremiah 2:21

  • planted (נָטַע, nata‘): This word means to intentionally set something in the ground to grow. It highlights God’s deliberate care and purpose in starting Israel as a nation.
  • vine (שׂוֹרֵק, soreq): This word refers to a choice or noble vine, often understood as a high-quality grapevine. It emphasizes that God gave Israel the best start, not something wild or inferior.
  • right (אֱמֶת, ’emet): Often translated as “true” or “faithful,” this word underlines that the “seed” or beginning of Israel was genuine and trustworthy.
  • strange (נָכְרִי, nokhri): This word means “foreign” or “alien.” It stresses how Israel’s current state is not just disappointing, but completely different from what God planted—almost as if they belong to another vineyard altogether.

Why Jeremiah 2:21 matters

  • The verse clears up the idea that Israel’s unfaithfulness was not because of how God started things; the problem came from Israel’s own choices, not from their origins.
  • Jeremiah 2:21 connects to the wider passage, where God is building a case against His people for abandoning Him despite all He did for them.
  • The vineyard image helps readers see the depth of God’s disappointment and the seriousness of Israel’s change, making the warning more relatable and memorable.

Where else these words appear

“vine” Hebrew H8321 · used in 3 verses

  • Genesis 49:11 Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass's colt unto the choice vine; he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes:
  • Isaiah 5:2 And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.

“strange” Hebrew H5237 · used in 45 verses

  • Genesis 31:15 Are we not counted of him strangers? for he hath sold us, and hath quite devoured also our money.
  • 1 Kings 11:1 But king Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites;
  • Proverbs 2:16 To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words;

“vine” Hebrew H1612 · used in 53 verses

  • Genesis 40:9 And the chief butler told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, In my dream, behold, a vine was before me;
  • Psalms 105:33 He smote their vines also and their fig trees; and brake the trees of their coasts.
  • Ezekiel 15:2 Son of man, What is the vine tree more than any tree, or than a branch which is among the trees of the forest?

“planted” Hebrew H5193 · used in 55 verses

  • Genesis 2:8 And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.
  • Psalms 94:9 He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? he that formed the eye, shall he not see?
  • Jeremiah 12:2 Thou hast planted them, yea, they have taken root: they grow, yea, they bring forth fruit: thou art near in their mouth, and far from their reins.