Jeremias 10:14

14 Every man is deprived of knowledge, every goldsmith is confounded because of his graven images; for he has cast false gods, there is no breath in them.

Jeremias 10:14 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 10:14

Every man is brutish in his knowledge
Or science of making an idol, whether it be of wood, or of gold, or silver, or brass; he is no better than a brute, if he thinks, when he has made it, he has made a god: or, "because of knowledge" ^F23; for want of it; being without the knowledge of God and divine things, he is like the beasts that perish, ( Psalms 49:20 ) : every founder is confounded by the graven image;
or put to shame on account of it; since, after all his art, and care, and trouble, in melting and refining, and casting it into a form, it is no more than a piece of gold, or silver, or brass, and has no deity, nor anything like it, in it: for his molten image is falsehood;
it is a lie, when it is said to be a god; and it deceives those who worship it, and place any confidence in it. Kimchi renders it, "his covering" ^F24. The covering of the idol with gold and silver, with blue and purple, as in ( Jeremiah 10:4 Jeremiah 10:9 ) , is all a piece of deceit, to impose upon the people, and lead them into idolatry: and there is no breath in them;
they are mere stocks and stones, lifeless and inanimate creatures; they have neither life themselves, nor can they give it to others.

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FOOTNOTES:

F23 (tedm) "propter scientiam", Pagninus, Montanus; "a scientia", Calvin, Grotius, Schmidt.
F24 (wkon) "tectio, [sive] obductio ejus", Vatablus.

Jeremias 10:14 In-Context

12 It is the Lord that made the earth by his strength, who set up the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding stretched out the sky,

13 and set abundance of waters in the sky, and brought up clouds from the ends of the earth; he made lightnings for the rain, and brought forth light out of his treasures.

14 Every man is deprived of knowledge, every goldsmith is confounded because of his graven images; for he has cast false gods, there is no breath in them.

15 They are vain works, wrought in mockery; in the time of their visitation they shall perish.

16 Such is not the portion of Jacob; for he that formed all things, he is his inheritance; the Lord is his name.