Jeremiah 10:3

3 For the practices of the peoples are worthless; they cut a tree out of the forest, and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel.

Jeremiah 10:3 in Other Translations

3 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.

3 for the customs of the peoples are vanity. A tree from the forest is cut down and worked with an axe by the hands of a craftsman.

3 Their ways are futile and foolish. They cut down a tree, and a craftsman carves an idol.

3 The religion of these peoples is nothing but smoke. An idol is nothing but a tree chopped down, then shaped by a woodsman's ax.

3 for the customs of the peoples are worthless. Someone cuts down a tree from the forest; [it is] worked by the hands of a craftsman with a chisel.

Jeremiah 10:3 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 10:3

For the customs of the people are vain
Or, "their decrees", or "statutes" ^F15, their determinations and conclusions, founded upon the observation of the stars; or, their "rites and ceremonies" ^F16 in religion, in the worship of the sun and moon, and the hosts of heaven. The Syriac version is, "the idols of the people are nothing"; and which appears by what follows: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest (the work of the hands of the
workman) with the axe;
not for building, or for burning, but to make a god of; the vanity, stupidity, and folly of which are manifest, when it is considered that the original of it is a tree that grew in the forest; the matter and substance of it the body and trunk of a tree cut down with an axe, and then hewed with the same, and planed with a plane, and formed into the image of a man, or of some creature; and now, to fall down and worship this must be vanity and madness to the last degree; see ( Isaiah 44:13-17 ) ( 45:20 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F15 (twqx) "decreta", Targ.; "statua", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius, Schmidt.
F16 Ritus, Vatablus; "ceremoniae", Tigurine version.

Jeremiah 10:3 In-Context

1 Hear what the LORD says to you, people of Israel.

2 This is what the LORD says: “Do not learn the ways of the nations or be terrified by signs in the heavens, though the nations are terrified by them.

3 For the practices of the peoples are worthless; they cut a tree out of the forest, and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel.

4 They adorn it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so it will not totter.

5 Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field, their idols cannot speak; they must be carried because they cannot walk. Do not fear them; they can do no harm nor can they do any good.”

Cross References

• 1. S Isaiah 40:19
• 2. Deuteronomy 9:21; S 1 Kings 8:36; Jeremiah 44:8; Ezekiel 7:20