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Jeremiah 10:8

in Jeremiah 10

But they are altogether senseless and foolish, instructed by worthless idols made of wood!

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

But they are together brutish and foolish: the instruction of idols! it is but a stock.

KJV

But they are altogether brutish and foolish: the stock is a doctrine of vanities.

This verse in Jeremiah 10

Commentary

9 notes on this verse

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

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?

This site's exposition

Your name is mighty in power

on Jeremiah 10:6-10

Against the craftsman's product stands the confession of verse 6, “You are great, and Your name is mighty in power”, a doxology inside the argument. Verse 10 answers with the title no idol can claim, “the LORD is the true God; He is the living God and eternal King”.

This site's exposition

instructed by worthless idols made of wood

Blayney, quoted by Clarke, renders the last line: the wood itself rebukes worthless things. The tree cut from the forest exposes the folly. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read it with Psalm 115:8, where the makers become as senseless as their idols.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

Jerome

Commentary on Jeremiah · Written before 420.

proposed

(Verse 8.) Both fools and wise men will be proved, their teaching is empty as a wooden idol. Both the wise and the foolish exist together. Their education, depending on the quality of their intelligence, is either cheap and compared to wood, or similar to silver because of the elegance of their speech.

The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

It teaches lies, teaches lies concerning God. It is an instruction of vanities; it is wood. " It is probable that the idols of gold and silver had wood underneath for the substratum, and then silver spread into plates is brought from Tarshish, imported from beyond sea, and gold from Uphaz, or Phaz, which is sometimes rendered the fine or pure gold, Ps. xxi.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — odd-straight-quotes

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

): They are altogether brutish and foolish. Those that make them are like unto them, senseless and stupid, and there is no spirit in them--no use of reason, else they would never stoop to them,

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens

But they are altogether brutish and foolish,....

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

Man divests himself of his true humanity, and sinks to the level of the brute, when he severs his connection with God (Ps 115:8; Jon 2:8). stock is a doctrine of vanities--The stock (put for the worship of all idols whatever, made out of a stock) speaks for itself that the whole theory of idolatry is vanity (Isa 44:9-11).
1 more voice on this verse

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

Brutish - Jer 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).

The words behind it

7 Hebrew words

Every 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.

  • וּבְאַחַ֖תand in one

    uveachatH259 →971 times

  • יִבְעֲר֣וּthey are stupid

    yivaruH1197 →94 times

  • וְיִכְסָ֑לוּand they may be foolish

    veyikhsaluH3688 →

  • מוּסַ֥ר[the] correction of

    musarH4148 →50 times

  • הֲבָלִ֖יםfutilities

    havalimH1892 →73 times

  • עֵ֥ץ[is] wood

    ʾetzH6086 →328 times

  • הֽוּא׃it

    hu'H1931 →1879 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each 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

    Jeremiah 10:14

    Every man is senseless and devoid of knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols. For his molten images are a fraud, and there is no breath in them.

    it leads to

    • Psalms 115:4–8

      Their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Psalms 135:16–18

      They have mouths, but cannot speak; they have eyes, but cannot see;

    • Isaiah 46:7–8

      They lift it to their shoulder and carry it along; they set it in its place, and there it stands, not budging from that spot. They cry out to it, but it does not…

    • Habakkuk 2:18–19

      What use is an idol, that a craftsman should carve it—or an image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak.

    • Isaiah 44:18–20

      They do not comprehend or discern, for He has shut their eyes so they cannot see and closed their minds so they cannot understand.

  • Through

    Zechariah 10:2

    For idols speak deceit and diviners see illusions; they tell false dreams and offer empty comfort. Therefore the people wander like sheep, oppressed for lack of a shepherd.

    it leads to

    • Habakkuk 2:18

      What use is an idol, that a craftsman should carve it—or an image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Matthew 9:36

      When He saw the crowds, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

  • Through

    Isaiah 41:29

    See, they are all a delusion; their works amount to nothing; their images are as empty as the wind.

    it leads to

    • Jeremiah 5:13

      The prophets are but wind, for the word is not in them. So let their own predictions befall them.”

Where this verse is studied

On this page

Studies1

About Jeremiah

Jeremiah Lamenting the Destruction of Jerusalem, Rembrandt, 1630. Public domain.
Jeremiah Lamenting the Destruction of Jerusalem, Rembrandt, 1630. Public domain.

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; 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.