Bible Strands
Jeremiah 12:2
You planted them, and they have taken root. They have grown and produced fruit. You are ever on their lips, but far from their hearts.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jeremiah addresses YHWH directly while contending with the apparent prosperity of the wicked. He describes the people's spiritual condition to explain his struggle with divine justice.
The words — The text uses נְטַעְתָּם (neṭaʿtām, "you have planted them") and שׁוֹרָשׁוּ (šōrāšū, "they have taken root") to describe agricultural growth, followed by קָרוֹב (qārōḇ, "near") to mark the physical proximity of their speech.
The thread — This contrast between external religiosity and internal detachment appears in Isaiah 29:13, Matthew 15:8, and Titus 1:16, where lip service or professed knowledge masks a heart far from God.
Why it lands — The verse demands self-examination to ensure that outward religious practice aligns with inward devotion, rather than allowing ritual to substitute for genuine allegiance.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
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.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 29:13 Therefore the Lord said: “These people draw near to Me with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. Their worship of Me is but rules taught by men.
- Titus 1:16 They profess to know God, but by their actions they deny Him. They are detestable, disobedient, and unfit for any good deed.
- Matthew 15:8 ‘These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me.
- Jeremiah 11:17 The LORD of Hosts, who planted you, has decreed disaster against you on account of the evil that the house of Israel and the house of Judah have brought upon themselves, provoking Me to anger by burning incense to Baal.”
- Jeremiah 45:4 Thus Jeremiah was to say to Baruch: “This is what the LORD says: Throughout the land I will demolish what I have built and uproot what I have planted.
- Ezekiel 17:5 He took some of the seed of the land and planted it in fertile soil; he placed it by abundant waters and set it out like a willow.
- Ezekiel 33:31 So My people come to you as usual, sit before you, and hear your words; but they do not put them into practice. Although they express love with their mouths, their hearts pursue dishonest gain.
- Jeremiah 3:10 Yet in spite of all this, her unfaithful sister Judah did not return to Me with all her heart, but only in pretense,” declares the LORD.
- Ezekiel 19:10 Your mother was like a vine in your vineyard, planted by the water; it was fruitful and full of branches because of the abundant waters.
- Mark 7:6 Jesus answered them, “Isaiah prophesied correctly about you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me.