10 The constellations of the stars are not to be feared. 5 The weakness of idols. 6 Of the power of God. 21 Their Pastors are become brute beasts.
1 Hear ye the word of the Lord that he speaketh unto you, O house of Israel.
2 Thus saith the Lord, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not afraid for the [a]signs of heaven, though the heathen be afraid of such.
3 For the [b]customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest (which is the work of the hands of the carpenter) with the axe,
4 And another decketh it [c]with silver, and with gold: they fasten it with nails and hammers that it fall not.
5 The idols stand up as the palm tree, but speak not: they are borne because they cannot go: fear them not, for they cannot do evil, neither can they do good.
6 There is none like unto thee, O Lord: [d]thou art great, and thy Name is great in power.
7 Who would not fear thee, O king of nations? for to thee appertaineth the dominion: for among all the wise men of the Gentiles, and in all their kingdoms there is none like thee.
8 But altogether they dote, and are foolish: for the stock is a [e]doctrine of vanity.
9 Silver plates are brought from Tarshish, and gold [f]from Uphaz, for the work of the workman, and the hands of the founder: the blue silk, and the purple is their clothing: all these things are made by cunning men.
10 But the Lord is the God of truth: he is the living God, and an everlasting King: at his anger the earth shall tremble, and the nations cannot abide his wrath.
11 (Thus shall you say unto them, The gods [g]that have not made the heavens and the earth, shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens.)
12 He hath made the earth by his power, and established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heaven by his discretion.
13 He giveth by his voice the multitude of waters in the heaven, and he causeth the clouds to ascend from the ends of the earth: he turneth lightnings to rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures.
14 Every man is a [h]beast by his own knowledge: every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his melting is but falsehood, and there is no breath therein.
15 They are vanity, and the work of errors: in the time of their visitation they shall perish.
16 The [i]portion of Jacob is not like them: for he is the maker of all things, and Israel is the rod of his inheritance: the Lord of hosts is his Name.
17 ¶ [j]Gather up thy wares out of the land, O thou that dwellest in the strong place.
18 For thus saith the Lord, Behold, at this time I will throw as with a sling the inhabitants of the land, and will trouble them, and they shall find it so.
19 Woe is me for my destruction, and my grievous plague: but I thought, Yet it [k]is my sorrow, and I will bear it.
20 [l]My Tabernacle is destroyed, and all my cords are broken: my children are gone from me, and are not: there is none to spread out my tent anymore, and to set up my curtains.
21 For the Pastors [m]are become beasts, and have not sought the Lord: therefore have they none understanding: and all the flocks of their pastures are scattered.
22 Behold, the noise of the bruit is come, and a great commotion out of the [n]North country, to make the cities of Judah desolate, and a den of dragons.
23 O Lord, I know that [o]the way of man is not in himself, neither is it in man to walk and to direct his steps.
24 O Lord, correct me, but with [p]judgment, not in thine anger, lest thou bring me to nothing.
25 Pour out [q]thy wrath upon the heathen that know thee not, and upon the families that call not on thy Name: for they have eaten up Jacob, and devoured him, and consumed him, and have made his habitation desolate.
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 10:2 God forbiddeth his people to give credit or fear the constellations and conjunctions of stars and planets which have no power of themselves, but are governed by him, and their secret motions and influences are not known to man and therefore there can be no certain judgment thereof, Deut. 18:9.
- Jeremiah 10:3 Meaning, not only in the observation of the stars, but their laws and ceremonies whereby they confirm their idolatry, which is forbidden, Deut. 12:30.
- Jeremiah 10:4 The Prophets use thus plainly and simply to set forth the vile absurdity of the idolaters, that men might learn to be ashamed of that whereunto their corrupt nature is most subject, read Isa. 44:12.
- Jeremiah 10:6 He teacheth the people to lift up their eyes to God, who hath all power and therefore ought only to be feared: and herein he showeth them not only the evil that they ought to eschew: but the good which they ought to follow, Rev. 15:4.
- Jeremiah 10:8 Because the people thought that to have images, was a means to serve God, and to bring them to the knowledge of him, he showeth that nothing more displeaseth God, nor bringeth man into greater errors and ignorance of God: and therefore he calleth them the doctrine of vanity, the work of errors, verse 15, and Hab. 2:18 calleth them the teachers of lies: contrary to that wicked opinion, that they are the books of the lay people.
- Jeremiah 10:9 Whereas they found the best gold: showing, that they thought nothing too dear for their idols, some read Ophir, as 1 Kings 9:28.
- Jeremiah 10:11 This declareth that all that hath been in this chapter spoken of idols, was to arm the Jews when they should be in Chaldea among the idolaters, and now with one sentence he instructeth them both how to protect their own religion against the idolaters, and how to answer them to their shame which should exhort them to idolatry, and therefore he writeth this sentence in the Chaldean’s tongue for a memorial, whereas all the rest of his writing is Hebrew.
- Jeremiah 10:14 The more that man thinketh to do anything well by his own wisdom, and not as God instructeth him, the more doth he prove himself to be a vile beast.
- Jeremiah 10:16 By these words Portion and Rod, he signifieth their inheritance, meaning, that God should be all sufficient for them: and that their felicity consisted in him alone, and therefore they ought to renounce all other helps and succors as of idols, etc. Deut. 32:9; Ps. 16:5.
- Jeremiah 10:17 The Prophet willeth the Jews to prepare themselves to this captivity, showing that it was now at hand that they should feel the things whereof he had told them.
- Jeremiah 10:19 It is my just plague, and therefore I will take it patiently: whereby he teacheth the people how to behave themselves toward God.
- Jeremiah 10:20 He showeth how Jerusalem shall lament.
- Jeremiah 10:21 The governors and ministers.
- Jeremiah 10:22 Read Jer. 4:15.
- Jeremiah 10:23 He speaketh this because that Nebuchadnezzar purposed to have made war against the Moabites and Ammonites, but hearing of Zedekiah’s rebellion, he turned his power to go against Jerusalem, Ezek. 21:21, therefore the Prophet saith, that this was the Lord’s direction.
- Jeremiah 10:24 Considering that God had revealed unto him the certitude of their captivity, Jer. 7:16, he only prayeth, that he would punish them with mercy, which Isaiah calleth in measure, Isa. 27:8, measuring his rods by their infirmity, 1 Cor. 10:13, for here by judgment is meant not only the punishment, but also the merciful moderation of the same, as Jer. 30:11.
- Jeremiah 10:25 Forasmuch as God cannot only be known and glorified by his mercy, that he useth toward his Church, but also by his justice in punishing his enemies, he prayeth that this glory may fully appear both in the one and the other, Ps. 79:6.