Jeremiah 2:20–28, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Jeremiah 2:20–28
Vine, Animal, and Theft Images Accuse Judah
A noble vine and frantic animal images accuse other worship
Of old I broke thy yoke, and thou saidst, I will not transgress; yet upon every high hill and under every green tree thou wanderest, playing the harlot. I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine? Though thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before me.
Sexualized and animalizing rhetoric here is covenant polemic about high-place worship, not a description of women's desire. It must not be used to shame women, sexuality, addiction, or survivors of exploitation. Degenerate-vine language indicts a planted people, not bodies.
Valley ways, made gods, and a crisis appeal close the images
How canst thou say, I am not polluted, I have not gone after Baalim? see thy way in the valley. A swift dromedary and a wild ass portray pursuit that will not be turned. In trouble they will say, Arise, and save us. But where are thy gods that thou hast made thee? let them arise, if they can save thee: for according to the number of thy cities are thy gods, O Judah.
Shame reaches rulers, priests, and prophets later in the chapter's flow; here the point is that handmade helpers cannot save. The unit does not license contempt for cities, animals, or sexual people. Denial ('I am not polluted') is the moral target.
How this should shape us
Do not preach this passage as a lecture on women's bodies or as disgust at desire. Hear the vine and the valley as a charge against substitute gods. If you lead, ask whether your crisis prayer still runs to what you made.
Teach it back
Explain Jeremiah 2:20–28 in your own words. Name its place in Jeremiah, one source-controlled observation, one uncertainty, one enduring truth, and one harmful use the passage does not authorize.
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Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Where careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Where do responsible readings differ?
Best judgment: Sexualized and animalizing rhetoric must not be used to shame women, sexuality, addiction, or survivors of exploitation.
How certain? probableResearch trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Jeremiah 2:20–28, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology checked at the exact unit without treating morphology as a critical apparatus or interpretation.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Jer.xml, OSIS 2:20–28
Supports: Verse-level controls for Hebrew, syntax, older KJV language, dates, names, textual problems, and material translation alternatives.
Official NET Bible Jeremiah PDF, pp. 1258-1459, translator, study, and textual notes attached to Jeremiah 2:20–28
Supports: Reader-oriented historical, literary, theological, and pastoral synthesis with ancient-to-modern limits.
Enter the Bible Jeremiah course, Summary, Outline, Background, and Introductory Issues: call, early preaching, temple sermon, and laments; applied to Jeremiah 2:20–28
Supports: Current university-level literary-historical synthesis and explicit composition questions.
Yale Bible Study, Jeremiah and Ezekiel, Jeremiah Part 1 study guide, pp. 1-6: composition, Josianic setting, temple sermon, and imperial context; applied to Jeremiah 2:20–28
Supports: Controls gendered and sexualized rhetoric, Jeremiah's body and confessions, women mourners, celibacy, and ethical reading of violent imagery.
Carvalho, 'Whose Gendered Language of God?,' Currents 43.3 (2016), pp. 13-15; applied to Jeremiah 2:20–28
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Exact location: Jeremiah 2:20–28, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Jeremiah
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2; fixed commit
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology checked at the exact unit without treating morphology as a critical apparatus or interpretation.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Jer.xml, OSIS 2:20–28
Open the fixed Hebrew Jeremiah file ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Jeremiah with Translator, Textual, and Study Notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press; official eBible PDF distribution, NET Bible Second Edition; official PDF accessed 2026
Supports: Verse-level controls for Hebrew, syntax, older KJV language, dates, names, textual problems, and material translation alternatives.
Exact location: Official NET Bible Jeremiah PDF, pp. 1258-1459, translator, study, and textual notes attached to Jeremiah 2:20–28
Open the official NET Jeremiah PDF ↗modern scholarly book course
Jeremiah: Summary, Outline, Background, Introductory Issues, Themes, and Bible in the World
Terence E. Fretheim and Michael Chan
Enter the Bible, Luther Seminary, current public course accessed 2026
Supports: Reader-oriented historical, literary, theological, and pastoral synthesis with ancient-to-modern limits.
Exact location: Enter the Bible Jeremiah course, Summary, Outline, Background, and Introductory Issues: call, early preaching, temple sermon, and laments; applied to Jeremiah 2:20–28
Open the Enter the Bible Jeremiah course ↗open university study guide series
Jeremiah and Ezekiel: Jeremiah Parts 1-3 Study Guides
Joel S. Baden and Jacqueline Vayntrub
Yale Bible Study, 2024
Supports: Current university-level literary-historical synthesis and explicit composition questions.
Exact location: Yale Bible Study, Jeremiah and Ezekiel, Jeremiah Part 1 study guide, pp. 1-6: composition, Josianic setting, temple sermon, and imperial context; applied to Jeremiah 2:20–28
Open the Yale Jeremiah and Ezekiel course ↗peer reviewed open access gender critical article
Whose Gendered Language of God? Contemporary Gender Theory and Divine Gender in the Prophets
Corrine L. Carvalho
Currents in Theology and Mission 43.3, 2016
Supports: Controls gendered and sexualized rhetoric, Jeremiah's body and confessions, women mourners, celibacy, and ethical reading of violent imagery.
Exact location: Carvalho, 'Whose Gendered Language of God?,' Currents 43.3 (2016), pp. 13-15; applied to Jeremiah 2:20–28
Open Carvalho on prophetic gender language ↗