Jeremiah 10:12

12 He hath made the earth by His power; He hath established the world by His wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by His discretion.

Jeremiah 10:12 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 10:12

He hath made the earth by his power
The Targum considers these words as a continuation of the answer of the Jews to the Chaldeans, paraphrasing them thus,

``and so shall ye say unto them, `we worship him who hath made the earth by his power':''

who stands opposed to the gods that made not the heavens and the earth, that had no title to deity, nor right to worship; but the true God has both; and his making the earth out of nothing, and hanging it upon nothing, and preserving it firm and stable, are proofs of his almighty power, and so of his deity; and consequently that he ought to be worshipped, and he only. He hath established the world by his wisdom;
upon the rivers and floods; or he hath poised it in the air; or he hath disposed it in an orderly, regular, and beautiful manner, as the word ^F21 used signifies; by making it terraqueous, partly land, and partly water; by opening in it fountains and rivers; by diversifying it with hills and vales, with wood and arable land; all which show the wisdom as well as the power of God. And hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion;
as a canopy over the earth, as a tent to dwell in; and which is beautifully bespangled with the luminaries in it; hence it has the name of expanse, or the firmament of heaven.

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FOOTNOTES:

F21 (Nykm) "aptavit", Cocceius; "preparans", Schmidt; a (Nwk) "aptavit, disposuit", Gussetius.

Jeremiah 10:12 In-Context

10 But the LORD is the true God; He is the living God and an everlasting King. At His wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide His indignation.

11 "Thus shall ye say unto them: `The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth and from under these heavens.'"

12 He hath made the earth by His power; He hath established the world by His wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by His discretion.

13 When He uttereth His voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens; and He causeth the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth. He maketh lightning with rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of His treasuries.

14 Every man is brutish in his knowledge; every founder is confounded by the graven image; for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.