Jeremiah 10:8

Lexham English Bible

Contextual Overview

¹ Hear the word that Yahweh speaks to you, O house of Israel. ² Thus says Yahweh: "You must not learn the way of the nations, and you must not be dismayed by the signs of the heavens, for the nations are dismayed by them. ³ For the statutes of the peoples are vanity, for it is a tree cut down from the forest, the work of the hands of a craftsman with the tool. ⁴ He decorates it with silver and gold, they strengthen it with nails and hammers, so that it does not stagger. ⁵ They are like scarecrows in a cucumber field, they cannot speak. Indeed, they must be carried, for they cannot march. You must not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil; furthermore, to do good is not in them." ⁶ There is none like you, O Yahweh, you are great and your name is great in might. ⁷ Who would not revere you, O king of the nations? For you it is fitting. For among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like you. ⁸ At the same time they are stupid and foolish, in the instruction of idols, it is wood. ⁹ Silver beaten from Tarshish is brought, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the craftsman and the hands of the goldsmith. Blue and purple are their clothing, all of them are the work of skillful people. ¹⁰ But Yahweh is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king. Because of his wrath the earth quakes, and the nations cannot endure his anger.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

altogether: Heb. in one, or at once

brutish: Jeremiah 10:14, Jeremiah 51:17, Jeremiah 51:18, Psalms 115:8, Psalms 135:18, Isaiah 41:29, Habakkuk 2:18, Zechariah 10:2, Romans 1:21, Romans 1:22

the stock: Jeremiah 2:27, Isaiah 44:19, Hosea 4:12

Reciprocal: Exodus 20:4 - General Deuteronomy 32:21 - with their vanities Judges 17:3 - a graven image 1 Samuel 5:3 - set him 1 Samuel 12:21 - vain things 1 Kings 16:13 - vanities 1 Kings 16:26 - their vanities 2 Kings 17:15 - vanity Psalms 31:6 - lying Psalms 49:10 - fool Psalms 94:8 - brutish Psalms 97:9 - far Psalms 106:28 - of the dead Isaiah 1:3 - but Israel Isaiah 40:21 - General Isaiah 41:24 - ye are Isaiah 44:18 - have not Isaiah 45:20 - they Isaiah 46:8 - Remember Jeremiah 1:16 - worshipped Jeremiah 2:5 - walked Jeremiah 3:9 - committed Jeremiah 5:21 - O foolish Jeremiah 10:3 - customs Jeremiah 10:15 - vanity Jeremiah 10:21 - the pastors Hosea 12:11 - surely Hosea 13:2 - according Jonah 2:8 - General Acts 14:15 - from Romans 10:19 - foolish 2 Peter 2:12 - as natural Revelation 9:20 - and idols

Cross-References

Micah 5:6
And they will shepherd the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod at its entrances. And he will rescue us from the Assyrian when he comes into our land, and when they tread upon our border.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

But they are altogether brutish and foolish,.... In comparison of the Lord, there is no knowledge and wisdom in them, this is a certain fact; they are verily brutish and foolish; or they are one and all so, there is not a wise man among them: or, "in one thing they are brutish" r, c. namely, in their idolatry; however wise they may be in other respects, in this they are foolish: or, to give no more instances of their brutishness s and folly, this one is sufficient, even what follows,

the stock is a doctrine of vanities; or what they teach persons, as to worship the trunk of a tree, or any idol of metal, or of wood, is a most vain and foolish thing, and argues gross stupidity and folly, and proves them to be brutish, and without understanding.

r ובאחת יבערו "in hoc uno Munster", Tigurine version; "et certe in una quadem re obbrutescunt", Piscator. So Jarchi and Abarbinel. s The Talmudists seem to take the word בער to have the signification of burning; for the sense of these words being asked, it is replied, there is one thing that burns the wicked in hell; what is it? idolatry; as it is here written, "a doctrine of vanities is the stock."

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Brutish - Jeremiah 10:21 and foolish Theirs was the brutishness of men in a savage state, little better than mere animals: their folly that of stupidity.

The stock ... - Rather, the instruction of idols is a piece of wood. That is what they are themselves, and “ex nihilo nihil fit” (from nothingness, nothing is made).

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Jeremiah 10:8. The stock is a doctrine of vanities. — Dr. Blayney translates,-"The wood itself is a rebuker of vanities." The very tree out of which the god is hewn demonstrates the vanity and folly of the idolaters; for, can all the art of man make out of a log of wood an animate and intelligent being?