Yesaya 40:19

40:19 A craftsman casts ¹  an idol;

a metalsmith overlays it with gold

and forges silver chains for it.

Yesaya 41:6-7

41:6 They help one another; ² 

one says to the other, ‘Be strong!’

41:7 The craftsman encourages the metalsmith,

the one who wields the hammer encourages ³  the one who pounds on the anvil.

He approves the quality of the welding, ⁴ 

and nails it down so it won’t fall over.”

Yesaya 46:6-7

46:6 Those who empty out gold from a purse

and weigh out silver on the scale ⁵ 

hire a metalsmith, who makes it into a god.

They then bow down and worship it.

46:7 They put it on their shoulder and carry it;

they put it in its place and it just stands there;

it does not ⁶  move from its place.

Even when someone cries out to it, it does not reply;

it does not deliver him from his distress.

Keluaran 32:4

32:4 He accepted the gold ⁷  from them, ⁸  fashioned ⁹  it with an engraving tool, and made a molten calf. ¹⁰  Then they said, “These are your gods, ¹¹  O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”

Keluaran 32:8

32:8 They have quickly turned aside ¹²  from the way that I commanded them – they have made for themselves a molten calf and have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, which brought you up from the land of Egypt.’”

Yeremia 10:3-11

10:3 For the religion ¹³  of these people is worthless.

They cut down a tree in the forest,

and a craftsman makes it into an idol with his tools. ¹⁴ 

10:4 He decorates it with overlays of silver and gold.

He uses hammer and nails to fasten it ¹⁵  together

so that it will not fall over.

10:5 Such idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field.

They cannot talk.

They must be carried

because they cannot walk.

Do not be afraid of them

because they cannot hurt you.

And they do not have any power to help you.” ¹⁶ 

10:6 I said, ¹⁷ 

“There is no one like you, Lord. ¹⁸ 

You are great.

And you are renowned for your power. ¹⁹ 

10:7 Everyone should revere you, O King of all nations, ²⁰ 

because you deserve to be revered. ²¹ 

For there is no one like you

among any of the wise people of the nations nor among any of their kings. ²² 

10:8 The people of those nations ²³  are both stupid and foolish.

Instruction from a wooden idol is worthless! ²⁴ 

10:9 Hammered-out silver is brought from Tarshish ²⁵ 

and gold is brought from Uphaz ²⁶  to cover those idols. ²⁷ 

They are the handiwork of carpenters and goldsmiths. ²⁸ 

They are clothed in blue and purple clothes. ²⁹ 

They are all made by skillful workers. ³⁰ 

10:10 The Lord is the only true God.

He is the living God and the everlasting King.

When he shows his anger the earth shakes.

None of the nations can stand up to his fury.

10:11 You people of Israel should tell those nations this:

‘These gods did not make heaven and earth.

They will disappear ³¹  from the earth and from under the heavens.’ ³² 

[40:19]  ¹ tn Heb “pours out”; KJV “melteth.”

[41:6]  ² tn Heb “each his neighbor helps”; NCV “The workers help each other.”

[41:7]  ³ tn The verb “encourages” is understood by ellipsis (note the preceding line).

[41:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “saying of the welding, ‘It is good.’”

[46:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “the reed,” probably referring to the beam of a scales. See BDB 889 s.v. קָנֶה 4.c.

[46:7]  ⁶ tn Or perhaps, “cannot,” here and in the following two lines. The imperfect forms can indicate capability.

[32:4]  ⁷ tn Here “the gold” has been supplied.

[32:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “from their hand.”

[32:4]  ⁹ tn The verb looks similar to יָצַר (yatsar), “to form, fashion” by a plan or a design. That is the verb used in Gen 2:7 for Yahweh God forming the man from the dust of the ground. If it is here, it is the reverse, a human – the dust of the ground – trying to form a god or gods. The active participle of this verb in Hebrew is “the potter.” A related noun is the word יֵצֶּר (yetser), “evil inclination,” the wicked designs or intent of the human heart (Gen 6:5). But see the discussion by B. S. Childs (Exodus [OTL], 555-56) on a different reading, one that links the root to a hollow verb meaning “to cast out of metal” (as in 1 Kgs 7:15).

[32:4]  ¹⁰ sn The word means a “young bull” and need not be translated as “calf” (although “calf” has become the traditional rendering in English). The word could describe an animal three years old. Aaron probably made an inner structure of wood and then, after melting down the gold, plated it. The verb “molten” does not need to imply that the image was solid gold; the word is used in Isa 30:22 for gold plating. So it was a young bull calf that was overlaid with gold, and the gold was fashioned with the stylus.

[32:4]  ¹¹ tn The word could be singular here and earlier; here it would then be “this is your god, O Israel.” However, the use of “these” indicates more than one god was meant by the image. But their statement and their statue, although they do not use the holy name, violate the first two commandments.

[32:8]  ¹² tn The verb is a perfect tense, reflecting the present perfect nuance: “they have turned aside” and are still disobedient. But the verb is modified with the adverb “quickly” (actually a Piel infinitive absolute). It has been only a matter of weeks since they heard the voice of God prohibiting this.

[10:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “statutes.” According to BDB 350 s.v. חֻקָּה 2.b it refers to the firmly established customs or practices of the pagan nations. Compare the usage in Lev 20:23; 2 Kgs 17:8. Here it is essentially equivalent to דֶּרֶךְ (derekh) in v. 1, which has already been translated “religious practices.”

[10:3]  ¹⁴ sn This passage is dripping with sarcasm. It begins by talking about the “statutes” of the pagan peoples as a “vapor” using a singular copula and singular predicate. Then it suppresses the subject, the idol, as though it were too horrible to mention, using only the predications about it. The last two lines read literally: “[it is] a tree which one cuts down from the forest; the work of the hands of a craftsman with his chisel.”

[10:4]  ¹⁵ tn The pronoun is plural in Hebrew, referring to the parts.

[10:5]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “And it is not in them to do good either.”

[10:6]  ¹⁷ tn The words “I said” are not in the Hebrew text, but there appears to be a shift in speaker. Someone is now addressing the Lord. The likely speaker is Jeremiah, so the words “I said” are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[10:6]  ¹⁸ tn The form that introduces this line has raised debate. The form מֵאֵין (me’en) normally means “without” and introduces a qualification of a term expressing desolation or “so that not” and introduces a negative result (cf. BDB 35 s.v. II אַיִן 6.b). Neither of these nuances fit either this verse or the occurrence in v. 7. BDB 35 s.v. II אַיִן 6.b.γ notes that some have explained this as a strengthened form of אַיִן (’ayin) which occurs in a similar phrase five other times (cf., e.g., 1 Kgs 8:23). Though many including BDB question the validity of this solution it is probably better than the suggestion that BDB gives of repointing to מֵאַיִן (me’ayin, “whence”), which scarcely fits the context of v. 7, or the solution of HALOT 41 s.v. I אַיִן, which suggests that the מ (mem) is a double writing (dittograph) of the final consonant from the preceding word. That would assume that the scribe made the same error twice or was influenced the second time by the first erroneous writing.

[10:6]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “Great is your name in power.”

[10:7]  ²⁰ tn Heb “Who should not revere you…?” The question is rhetorical and expects a negative answer.

[10:7]  ²¹ tn Heb “For it is fitting to you.”

[10:7]  ²² tn Heb “their royalty/dominion.” This is a case of substitution of the abstract for the concrete “royalty, royal power” for “kings” who exercise it.

[10:8]  ²³ tn Or “Those wise people and kings are…” It is unclear whether the subject is the “they” of the nations in the preceding verse, or the wise people and kings referred to. The text merely has “they.”

[10:8]  ²⁴ tn Heb “The instruction of vanities [worthless idols] is wood.” The meaning of this line is a little uncertain. Various proposals have been made to make sense, most of which involve radical emendation of the text. For some examples see J. A. Thompson, Jeremiah (NICOT), 323-24, fn 6. However, this is probably a case of the bold predication that discussed in GKC 452 §141.d, some examples of which may be seen in Ps 109:4 “I am prayer,” and Ps 120:7 “I am peace.”

[10:9]  ²⁵ tc Two Qumran scrolls of Jeremiah (4QJer^a and 4QJer^b) reflect a Hebrew text that is very different than the traditional MT from which modern Bibles have been translated. The Hebrew text in these two manuscripts is similar to that from which LXX was translated. This is true both in small details and in major aspects where the LXX differs from MT. Most notably, 4QJer^a, 4QJer^b and LXX present a version of Jeremiah about 13% shorter than the longer version found in MT. One example of this shorter text is Jer 10:3-11 in which MT and 4QJer^a both have all nine verses, while LXX and 4QJer^b both lack vv. 6-8 and 10, which extol the greatness of God. In addition, the latter part of v. 9 is arranged differently in LXX and 4QJer^b. The translation here follows MT which is supported by 4QJer^a.

[10:9]  ²⁶ tn This is a place of unknown location. It is mentioned again in Dan 10:5. Many emend the word to “Ophir” following the Syriac version and the Aramaic Targum. Ophir was famous for its gold (cf. 1 Kgs 9:28; Job 28:16).

[10:9]  ²⁷ tn The words “to cover those idols” are not in the text but are implicit from the context. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[10:9]  ²⁸ tn The words “They are” are not in the text. The text reads merely, “the work of the carpenter and of the hands of the goldsmith.” The words are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[10:9]  ²⁹ tn Heb “Blue and purple their clothing.”

[10:9]  ³⁰ sn There is an ironic pun in this last line. The Hebrew word translated “skillful workers” is the same word that is translated “wise people” in v. 7. The artisans do their work skillfully but they are not “wise.”

[10:11]  ³¹ tn Aram “The gods who did not make…earth will disappear…” The sentence is broken up in the translation to avoid a long, complex English sentence in conformity with contemporary English style.

[10:11]  ³² tn This verse is in Aramaic. It is the only Aramaic sentence in Jeremiah. Scholars debate the appropriateness of this verse to this context. Many see it as a gloss added by a postexilic scribe which was later incorporated into the text. Both R. E. Clendenen (“Discourse Strategies in Jeremiah 10,” JBL 106 [1987]: 401-8) and W. L. Holladay (Jeremiah [Hermeneia], 1:324-25, 334-35) have given detailed arguments that the passage is not only original but the climax and center of the contrast between the Lord and idols in vv. 2-16. Holladay shows that the passage is a very carefully constructed chiasm (see accompanying study note) which argues that “these” at the end is the subject of the verb “will disappear” not the attributive adjective modifying heaven. He also makes a very good case that the verse is poetry and not prose as it is rendered in the majority of modern English versions.

[10:11]  sn This passage is carefully structured and placed to contrast the Lord who is living and eternal (v. 10) and made the heavens and earth (v. 12) with the idols who did not and will disappear. It also has a very careful concentric structure in the original text where “the gods” is balanced by “these,” “heavens” is balance by “from under the heavens,” “the earth” is balanced by “from the earth,” and “did not make” is balanced and contrasted in the very center by “will disappear.” The structure is further reinforced by the sound play/wordplay between “did not make” (Aram לָא עֲבַדוּ [la’ ’avadu]) and “will disappear” (Aram יֵאבַדוּ [ye’vadu]). This is the rhetorical climax of Jeremiah’s sarcastic attack on the folly of idolatry.