Jeremiah 10:3
in Jeremiah 10For the customs of the peoples are worthless; they cut down a tree from the forest; it is shaped with a chisel by the hands of a craftsman.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
For the customs of the peoples are vanity; for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman with the axe.
KJV
For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe.
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This verse in Jeremiah 10
Commentary
8 notes on this verseThe customs of the people are vain - חקות chukkoth; the statutes and principles of the science are vain, empty, and illusory. They are founded in nonsense, ignorance, idolatry, and folly. One cutteth a tree out of the forest - See the notes on Isa 40:19 (note), and Isa 44:9 (note), etc., which are all parallel places and where this conduct is strongly ridiculed.
This site's exposition
O house of Israel
on Jeremiah 10:1-5
The oracle addresses the house of Israel directly, “Do not learn the ways of the nations or be terrified by the signs in the heavens”. It then gives the book's fullest account of making an idol, “shaped with a chisel”, adorned “with silver and gold”.
This site's exposition
the customs of the peoples are worthless
Customs renders chukkoth, the statutes and principles of the nations' religion, which Clarke calls empty and illusory. Matthew Henry notes that the Chaldeans prided themselves on wisdom, and the prophet shows their god beginning as a tree in the forest. Isaiah 44:9 mocks the same craft.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(v. 3.) Because it was cut down from the forest, the work of a craftsman with an axe. Description of the idols that the nations worship. He said that he cut down the wood from the forest. Therefore, the material of idols is cheap and perishable: the work of a craftsman's hands. Since the craftsman is mortal, the things he makes are also mortal.
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
The Chaldeans valued themselves upon their wisdom, in which they thought that they excelled all their neighbours; but the prophet here shows that they, and all others that worshipped idols and expected help and relief from them, were brutish and sottish, and had not common sense. (1.) Consider what the idol is that is worshipped. It was a tree cut out of the forest originally.
For the customs of the people are vain,.... Or, "their decrees", or "statutes" (o), their determinations and conclusions, founded upon the observation of the stars; or, their "rites and ceremonies" (p) in religion, in the worship of the sun and moon, and the hosts of heaven.
These are cunning men; it is the work of the workman; the graver must do his part when it has passed through the hands of the founder. Those were but decked here and there with silver and gold; these are silver and gold all over.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
The customs - Better, as the marg, “the ordinances,” established institutions, “of the peoples, i. e.” pagan nations.
The words behind it
13 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כִּֽי־ | ki- | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| חֻקּ֥וֹת | chukot | [the] customs of | H2708 → | 104 times |
| הָֽעַמִּ֖ים | haamim | the peoples | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| הֶ֣בֶל | hevel | [is] futility | H1892 → | 73 times |
| ה֑וּא | hu' | it | H1931 → | 1879 times |
| כִּֽי־ | ki- | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| עֵץ֙ | ʾetz | a tree | H6086 → | 328 times |
| מִיַּ֣עַר | miyaar | from a forest | H3293 → | 59 times |
| כְּרָת֔וֹ | kerato | someone has cut down it | H3772 → | 288 times |
| מַעֲשֵׂ֥ה | maaseh | [the] work of | H4639 → | 236 times |
| יְדֵ֥י־ | yedei- | [the] hands of | H3027 → | 1618 times |
| חָרָ֖שׁ | charash | a craftsman | H2796 → | 37 times |
| בַּֽמַּעֲצָֽד׃ | bamaatzad | with <the> tool | H4621 → |
כִּֽי־for
ki-H3588 →4482 times
חֻקּ֥וֹת[the] customs of
chukotH2708 →104 times
הָֽעַמִּ֖יםthe peoples
haamimH5971 →1873 times
הֶ֣בֶל[is] futility
hevelH1892 →73 times
ה֑וּאit
hu'H1931 →1879 times
כִּֽי־for
ki-H3588 →4482 times
עֵץ֙a tree
ʾetzH6086 →328 times
מִיַּ֣עַרfrom a forest
miyaarH3293 →59 times
כְּרָת֔וֹsomeone has cut down it
keratoH3772 →288 times
מַעֲשֵׂ֥ה[the] work of
maasehH4639 →236 times
יְדֵ֥י־[the] hands of
yedei-H3027 →1618 times
חָרָ֖שׁa craftsman
charashH2796 →37 times
בַּֽמַּעֲצָֽד׃with <the> tool
bamaatzadH4621 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
1 Peter 1:18For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life you inherited from your forefathers,
it leads to
- 1 Corinthians 6:20
you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God with your body.
- Titus 2:14
He gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.
- 1 Corinthians 7:23
You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men.
- Psalms 49:7–8
No man can possibly redeem his brother or pay his ransom to God.
- Galatians 1:4
who gave Himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,
- 1 Corinthians 6:20
Through
Romans 1:21For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking and darkened in their foolish hearts.
it leads to
- Ephesians 4:17–18
So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.
- 2 Kings 17:15
They rejected His statutes and the covenant He had made with their fathers, as well as the decrees He had given them. They pursued worthless idols and themselves became worthless, going after the surrounding…
- Jeremiah 2:5
This is what the LORD says: “What fault did your fathers find in Me that they strayed so far from Me, and followed worthless idols, and became worthless themselves?
- Ephesians 4:17–18
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Jeremiah
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jerome, Commentary on Jeremiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.