Jeremiah 10

God and Idols

1 Hear what the LORD says to you, people of Israel.
2 This is what the LORD says: “Do not learn the ways of the nations or be terrified by signs in the heavens, though the nations are terrified by them.
3 For the practices of the peoples are worthless; they cut a tree out of the forest, and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel.
4 They adorn it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so it will not totter.
5 Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field, their idols cannot speak; they must be carried because they cannot walk. Do not fear them; they can do no harm nor can they do any good.”
6 No one is like you, LORD; you are great, and your name is mighty in power.
7 Who should not fear you, King of the nations? This is your due. Among all the wise leaders of the nations and in all their kingdoms, there is no one like you.
8 They are all senseless and foolish; they are taught by worthless wooden idols.
9 Hammered silver is brought from Tarshish and gold from Uphaz. What the craftsman and goldsmith have made is then dressed in blue and purple— all made by skilled workers.
10 But the LORD is the true God; he is the living God, the eternal King. When he is angry, the earth trembles; the nations cannot endure his wrath.
11 “Tell them this: ‘These gods, who did not make the heavens and the earth, will perish from the earth and from under the heavens.’ ”[a]
12 But God made the earth by his power; he founded the world by his wisdom and stretched out the heavens by his understanding.
13 When he thunders, the waters in the heavens roar; he makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth. He sends lightning with the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses.
14 Everyone is senseless and without knowledge; every goldsmith is shamed by his idols. The images he makes are a fraud; they have no breath in them.
15 They are worthless, the objects of mockery; when their judgment comes, they will perish.
16 He who is the Portion of Jacob is not like these, for he is the Maker of all things, including Israel, the people of his inheritance— the LORD Almighty is his name.

Coming Destruction

17 Gather up your belongings to leave the land, you who live under siege.
18 For this is what the LORD says: “At this time I will hurl out those who live in this land; I will bring distress on them so that they may be captured.”
19 Woe to me because of my injury! My wound is incurable! Yet I said to myself, “This is my sickness, and I must endure it.”
20 My tent is destroyed; all its ropes are snapped. My children are gone from me and are no more; no one is left now to pitch my tent or to set up my shelter.
21 The shepherds are senseless and do not inquire of the LORD; so they do not prosper and all their flock is scattered.
22 Listen! The report is coming— a great commotion from the land of the north! It will make the towns of Judah desolate, a haunt of jackals.

Jeremiah’s Prayer

23 LORD, I know that people’s lives are not their own; it is not for them to direct their steps.
24 Discipline me, LORD, but only in due measure— not in your anger, or you will reduce me to nothing.
25 Pour out your wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge you, on the peoples who do not call on your name. For they have devoured Jacob; they have devoured him completely and destroyed his homeland.

Cross References 63

  • 1. S Exodus 23:24; S Leviticus 20:23
  • 2. S Genesis 1:14
  • 3. S Isaiah 40:19
  • 4. Deuteronomy 9:21; S 1 Kings 8:36; Jeremiah 44:8; Ezekiel 7:20
  • 5. Psalms 135:15; Hosea 13:2; Habakkuk 2:19
  • 6. S 1 Samuel 5:3; Isaiah 41:7
  • 7. S 1 Kings 18:26; 1 Corinthians 12:2
  • 8. S Isaiah 45:20; Psalms 115:5,7
  • 9. Isaiah 41:23
  • 10. S Isaiah 41:24; Isaiah 44:9-20; Isaiah 46:7; Acts 19:26
  • 11. S Exodus 8:10
  • 12. S 2 Samuel 7:22; S Psalms 48:1
  • 13. Jeremiah 5:22
  • 14. Psalms 22:28; S Isaiah 12:4; Revelation 15:4
  • 15. S Isaiah 44:18
  • 16. S Isaiah 40:19; S Jeremiah 4:22
  • 17. S Deuteronomy 32:21
  • 18. S Genesis 10:4
  • 19. Psalms 115:4; S Isaiah 40:19
  • 20. S Joshua 3:10; S Matthew 16:16
  • 21. S Genesis 21:33; Daniel 6:26
  • 22. S Psalms 18:7
  • 23. S Judges 5:4; S Job 9:6; Psalms 29:8
  • 24. Psalms 76:7; Jeremiah 21:12; Nahum 1:6
  • 25. Psalms 96:5; S Isaiah 2:18
  • 26. S 1 Samuel 2:8
  • 27. S ver 16
  • 28. S Genesis 1:31
  • 29. S Genesis 1:1,8; Job 9:8; Isaiah 40:22
  • 30. S Job 36:29
  • 31. S Job 36:30
  • 32. S Psalms 104:13; S Psalms 135:7
  • 33. S Deuteronomy 28:12
  • 34. S Psalms 97:7; S Isaiah 1:29
  • 35. S Isaiah 44:20
  • 36. S Isaiah 41:24; S Jeremiah 14:22
  • 37. S Deuteronomy 32:9; S Psalms 119:57
  • 38. ver 12; Jeremiah 32:17; Jeremiah 33:2
  • 39. S Exodus 34:9; Psalms 74:2
  • 40. Jeremiah 31:35; Jeremiah 32:18
  • 41. Ezekiel 12:3-12
  • 42. S 1 Samuel 25:29; S Isaiah 22:17
  • 43. S Deuteronomy 28:52
  • 44. Job 34:6; Jeremiah 14:17; Jeremiah 15:18; Jeremiah 30:12,15; Lamentations 2:13; Micah 1:9; Nahum 3:19
  • 45. Micah 7:9
  • 46. S Jeremiah 4:20
  • 47. Jeremiah 31:15; Lamentations 1:5
  • 48. Jeremiah 22:22; Jeremiah 23:1; Jeremiah 25:34; Jeremiah 50:6
  • 49. ver 8
  • 50. S Isaiah 56:10
  • 51. Jeremiah 22:30
  • 52. Jeremiah 23:2; Ezekiel 34:6
  • 53. Jeremiah 6:22; Jeremiah 27:6; Jeremiah 49:28,30
  • 54. Ezekiel 12:19
  • 55. S Isaiah 34:13; Jeremiah 9:11
  • 56. S Job 33:29; S Proverbs 3:5-6; Proverbs 20:24
  • 57. Psalms 6:1; Psalms 38:1; S Jeremiah 7:20; Jeremiah 18:23
  • 58. Jeremiah 46:28
  • 59. Jeremiah 30:11
  • 60. S Psalms 69:24; Zephaniah 2:2; Zephaniah 3:8
  • 61. Job 18:21; S Psalms 14:4
  • 62. S Psalms 79:7; S Jeremiah 2:3; Jeremiah 8:16
  • 63. Psalms 79:6-7

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. The text of this verse is in Aramaic.

Jeremiah 10 Commentaries

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