Jérémie 10:14

14 Tout homme est abruti dans sa science, tout orfèvre est honteux de son image taillée; car les idoles ne sont que mensonge; il n'y a point de respiration en elles;

Jérémie 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.

Jérémie 10:14 In-Context

12 C'est lui qui a fait la terre par sa puissance; qui a fondé le monde par sa sagesse; qui a étendu les cieux par son intelligence.

13 Au son de sa voix les eaux s'amassent dans les cieux; il fait monter les vapeurs du bout de la terre; il produit les éclairs et la pluie, et tire le vent de ses trésors.

14 Tout homme est abruti dans sa science, tout orfèvre est honteux de son image taillée; car les idoles ne sont que mensonge; il n'y a point de respiration en elles;

15 Elles ne sont que vanité, œuvre de tromperie; elles périront au temps où Dieu les visitera.

16 Celui qui est la part de Jacob n'est pas comme elles; car c'est lui qui a tout formé, et Israël est la tribu de son héritage. Son nom est l'Éternel des armées.