Jeremiah 10:11

11 This is what you are to say to them: The gods who have not made the heavens and the earth will be cut off from the earth and from under the heavens.

Jeremiah 10:11 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 10:11

Thus shall ye say unto them
The godly Jews to the idolatrous Chaldeans; and therefore this verse alone is written in the Chaldee language. The Targum prefaces it thus,

``this is the copy of the letter, which Jeremiah the prophet sent to the rest of the elders of the captivity in Babylon; and if the people among whom you are should say unto you, serve idols, O house of Israel; then shall ye answer, and so shall ye say unto them, the idols whom ye serve are errors, in whom there is no profit; from heaven they cannot bring down rain, and out of the earth they cannot produce fruit:''

so Jarchi observes: it follows in the text, the gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall
perish from the earth, and from under these heavens;
which the Targum paraphrases thus,

``they and their worshippers shall perish from the earth, and shall be consumed from under these heavens.''

The words may be considered as a prediction that so it would be; or as an imprecation that so it might be, and be read, "let the gods"; and considered either way, being put into the mouth of the godly Jews in Babylon, to be openly pronounced by them in the midst of idolaters, and in answer to them, when they should be enticed to idolatry, show how open and ingenuous men should be in the profession of the true God, and his religion and worship: and it may be observed, against the deniers of the true deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, that if he is not that God that made the heavens and the earth, he lies under this imprecation or prediction.

Jeremiah 10:11 In-Context

9 Silver hammered into plates is sent from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the expert workman and of the hands of the gold-worker; blue and purple is their clothing, all the work of expert men.

10 But the Lord is the true God; he is the living God and an eternal king: when he is angry, the earth is shaking with fear, and the nations give way before his wrath.

11 This is what you are to say to them: The gods who have not made the heavens and the earth will be cut off from the earth and from under the heavens.

12 He has made the earth by his power, he has made the world strong in its place by his wisdom, and by his wise design the heavens have been stretched out.

13 At the sound of his voice there is a massing of waters in the heavens, and he makes the mists go up from the ends of the earth; he makes the thunder-flames for the rain, and sends out the wind from his store-houses.