1 Hear the word which Yahweh speaks to you, house of Israel! 2 Thus says Yahweh, "Don't learn the way of the nations, and don't be dismayed at the signs of the sky; for the nations are dismayed at them. 3 For the customs of the peoples are vanity; for one cuts a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman with the axe. 4 They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it not move. 5 They are like a palm tree, of turned work, and don't speak: they must be carried, because they can't go. Don't be afraid of them; for they can't do evil, neither is it in them to do good." 6 There is none like you, Yahweh; you are great, and your name is great in might. 7 Who should not fear you, King of the nations? For it appertains to you; because among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their royal estate, there is none like you. 8 But they are together brutish and foolish: the instruction of idols! it is but a stock. 9 There is silver beaten into plates, which is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the artificer and of the hands of the goldsmith; blue and purple for their clothing; they are all the work of skillful men. 10 But Yahweh is the true God; he is the living God, and an everlasting King: at his wrath the earth trembles, and the nations are not able to withstand his indignation. 11 You shall say this to them: The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, these shall perish from the earth, and from under the heavens. 12 He has made the earth by his power, he has established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding has he stretched out the heavens: 13 when he utters his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; he makes lightnings for the rain, and brings forth the wind out of his treasuries. 14 Every man is become brutish (and is) without knowledge; every goldsmith is disappointed by his engraved image; for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them. 15 They are vanity, a work of delusion: in the time of their visitation they shall perish. 16 The portion of Jacob is not like these; for he is the former of all things; and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance: Yahweh of Armies is his name. 17 Gather up your wares out of the land, you who live under siege. 18 For thus says Yahweh, Behold, I will sling out the inhabitants of the land at this time, and will distress them, that they may feel (it). 19 Woe is me because of my hurt! my wound is grievous: but I said, Truly this is (my) grief, and I must bear it. 20 My tent is destroyed, and all my cords are broken: my children are gone forth from me, and they are no more: there is none to spread my tent any more, and to set up my curtains. 21 For the shepherds are become brutish, and have not inquired of Yahweh: therefore they have not prospered, and all their flocks are scattered. 22 The voice of news, behold, it comes, and a great commotion out of the north country, to make the cities of Judah a desolation, a dwelling place of jackals. 23 Yahweh, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man who walks to direct his steps. 24 Yahweh, correct me, but in measure: not in your anger, lest you bring me to nothing. 25 Pour out your wrath on the nations that don't know you, and on the families that don't call on your name: for they have devoured Jacob, yes, they have devoured him and consumed him, and have laid waste his habitation.
The Jews, about to be carried into captivity, are here warned against the superstition and idolatry of that country to which they were going. Chaldea was greatly addicted to astrology, and therefore the prophet begins with warning them against it, Jeremiah 10:1, Jeremiah 10:2. He then exposes the absurdity of idolatry in short but elegant satire; in the midst of which he turns, in a beautiful apostrophe, to the one true God, whose adorable attributes repeatedly strike in view, as he goes along, and lead him to contrast his infinite perfections with those despicable inanities which the blinded nations fear, Jeremiah 10:3-16. The prophet again denounces the Divine judgments, Jeremiah 10:17, Jeremiah 10:18; upon which Jerusalem laments her fate, and supplicates the Divine compassion in her favor, Jeremiah 10:19-25.
INTRODUCTION TO JEREMIAH 10
This chapter shows that there is no comparison to be made between God and the idols of the Gentiles; represents the destruction of the Jews as near at hand; and is closed with some petitions of the prophet. It begins by way of preface with an exhortation to hear the word of the Lord, and a dehortation not to learn the way of the Heathens, or be dismayed at their signs, since their customs were in vain, Jeremiah 10:1 which lead on to expose their idols, and set forth the greatness and glory of God. Their idols are described by the matter and makers of them, Jeremiah 10:3 and from their impotence to speak, to stand, to move, or do either good or evil, Jeremiah 10:4, but, on the other hand, God is described by the greatness of his name and power, and by the reverence that belongs unto him; in comparison of whom all the wise men of the nations are brutish, foolish, and vain, Jeremiah 10:6, by the epithets of true, living, and everlasting, and by the terribleness of his wrath, Jeremiah 10:10, by his power and wisdom, in making the heavens and the earth, in causing thunder and lightning, wind and rain, when the gods that have no share in these shall utterly perish, Jeremiah 10:11 their makers being brutish, and brought to shame; and they falsehood and breathless vanity, the work of errors, and so shall come to ruin, Jeremiah 10:14, but he, who is Jacob's portion, and whose inheritance Israel is, is not like them; being the former of all things, and his name the Lord of hosts, Jeremiah 10:16 and next follows a prophecy of the destruction of the Jews; wherefore they are bid to gather up their wares, since in a very little time, and at once, the Lord would fling them out of the land, and bring them into distress, Jeremiah 10:17, upon which the prophet expresses his sympathy with his people in trouble, and the part of grief he took and bore with them, Jeremiah 10:19, the particulars of his distress, through the desolation of the land, and the captivity of the people, with the cause and authors of it, by whose means these things were brought upon them, are mentioned, Jeremiah 10:20, and the Chaldean army, the instruments of their ruin, are represented as just at hand, Jeremiah 10:22, when the prophet, directing himself to God, acknowledges the impotence of man in general to help and guide himself, deprecates correction in anger to himself in particular, and prays that the wrath of God might be poured down upon the Heathens, by whom his people were devoured, consumed, and made desolate, Jeremiah 10:23.
(v. 1-16) The absurdity of idolatry.
(Jeremiah 10:17-25) Destruction denounced against Jerusalem.
*More commentary available by clicking individual verses.