Jeremiah 10:3
New International Version
For the practices of the peoples are worthless; they cut a tree out of the forest, and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel.

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

English Standard Version
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.

Berean Standard Bible
For 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.

King James Bible
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.

New King James Version
For the customs of the peoples are futile; For one cuts a tree from the forest, The work of the hands of the workman, with the ax.

New American Standard Bible
For the customs of the peoples are futile; For it is wood cut from the forest, The work of the hands of a craftsman with a cutting tool.

NASB 1995
For the customs of the peoples are delusion; Because it is wood cut from the forest, The work of the hands of a craftsman with a cutting tool.

NASB 1977
For the customs of the peoples are delusion; Because it is wood cut from the forest, The work of the hands of a craftsman with a cutting tool.

Legacy Standard Bible
For the statutes of the peoples are vanity Because it is wood cut from the forest, The work of the hands of a craftsman with a cutting tool.

Amplified Bible
For the customs and decrees of the peoples are [mere] delusion [exercises in futility]; It is only wood which one cuts from the forest [to make a god], The work of the hands of the craftsman with the axe or cutting tool.

Christian Standard Bible
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.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
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.

American Standard Version
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.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
Because the worshiped things of the Gentiles are nothing, because wood from the forest was cut, the work of the hands of a carpenter with an ax

Brenton Septuagint Translation
For the customs of the nations are vain; it is a tree cut out of the forest, the work of the carpenter, or a molten image.

Contemporary English Version
Their religion is worthless! They chop down a tree, carve the wood into an idol,

Douay-Rheims Bible
For the laws of the people are vain: for the works of the hand of the workman hath cut a tree out of the forest with an axe.

English Revised Version
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.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
The religion of the people is worthless. Woodcutters cut down trees from the forest. The hands of craftsmen prepare them with axes.

Good News Translation
The religion of these people is worthless. A tree is cut down in the forest; it is carved by the tools of the woodworker

International Standard Version
For the practices of the people are worthless. Indeed, a tree is cut down from the forest; it's the work of the hands of a craftsman with an ax.

JPS Tanakh 1917
For the customs of the peoples are vanity; For it is but a tree which one cutteth out of the forest, The work of the hands of the workman with the axe.

Literal Standard Version
For the statutes of the peoples are vanity, | For one has cut a tree from a forest, | Work of the hands of a craftsman, with an axe,

Majority Standard Bible
For 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.

New American Bible
For the carvings of the nations are nonentities, wood cut from the forest, Fashioned by artisans with the adze,

NET Bible
For the religion of these people is worthless. They cut down a tree in the forest, and a craftsman makes it into an idol with his tools.

New Revised Standard Version
For the customs of the peoples are false: a tree from the forest is cut down, and worked with an ax by the hands of an artisan;

New Heart English Bible
For the customs of the peoples are vanity; for one cuts a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman with the axe.

Webster's Bible Translation
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 ax.

World English Bible
For the customs of the peoples are vanity; for one cuts a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman with the ax.

Young's Literal Translation
For the statutes of the peoples are vanity, For a tree from a forest hath one cut, Work of the hands of an artificer, with an axe,

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Sovereignty of God
2This is what the LORD says: “Do not learn the ways of the nations or be terrified by the signs in the heavens, though the nations themselves are terrified by them. 3For 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. 4They adorn it with silver and gold and fasten it with hammer and nails, so that it will not totter.…

Cross References
Acts 19:26
And you can see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but in nearly the whole province of Asia, Paul has persuaded a great number of people to turn away. He says that man-made gods are no gods at all.

Psalm 115:4
Their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men.

Isaiah 44:9
All makers of idols are nothing, and the things they treasure are worthless. Their witnesses fail to see or comprehend, so they are put to shame.

Isaiah 44:12
The blacksmith takes a tool and labors over the coals; he fashions an idol with hammers and forges it with his strong arms. Yet he grows hungry and loses his strength; he fails to drink water and grows faint.

Jeremiah 1:16
I will pronounce My judgments against them for all their wickedness, because they have forsaken Me to burn incense to other gods and to worship the works of their own hands.

Jeremiah 14:22
Can the worthless idols of the nations bring rain? Do the skies alone send showers? Is this not by You, O LORD our God? So we put our hope in You, for You have done all these things.

Habakkuk 2:19
Woe to him who says to wood, 'Awake!' or to silent stone, 'Arise!' Can it give guidance? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, yet there is no breath in it at all."


Treasury of Scripture

For the customs of the people are vain: for one cuts a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the ax.

customs.

Jeremiah 10:8
But they are altogether brutish and foolish: the stock is a doctrine of vanities.

Jeremiah 2:5
Thus saith the LORD, What iniquity have your fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain?

Leviticus 18:30
Therefore shall ye keep mine ordinance, that ye commit not any one of these abominable customs, which were committed before you, and that ye defile not yourselves therein: I am the LORD your God.

one.

Isaiah 40:19
The workman melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth silver chains.

Isaiah 44:9-20
They that make a graven image are all of them vanity; and their delectable things shall not profit; and they are their own witnesses; they see not, nor know; that they may be ashamed…

Isaiah 45:20
Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations: they have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a god that cannot save.

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Artizan Ax Axe Craftsman Customs Cut Cuts Cutteth Cutting Delusion False. Foolish Forest Hands Peoples Shapes Tool Tree Vain Vanity Wood Woods Work Worked Workman Worthless
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Jeremiah 10
1. The unequal comparison of God and idols.
17. The prophet exhorts to flee from the calamity to come.
19. He laments the spoil of the tabernacle by foolish pastors.
23. He makes an humble supplication.














(3) The customs of the people.--Better, ordinances of the peoples. The prophet is speaking, not of common customs, but of religious institutions, and of these as belonging, not to "the people," i.e., Israel, but to the nations round them. The verses that follow are so closely parallel to Isaiah 41:7; Isaiah 44:9-17; Isaiah 46:5-7 (where see Notes), that the natural conclusion is that one writer had seen the work of the other. The grandeur and fulness of Isaiah's language, and the unlikeness of what we find here to Jeremiah's usual style, makes it more probable that he was the copyist, and so far adds to the argument for the authorship of the chapter ascribed to Isaiah. It is, however, possible, as some critics have thought, that these verses are an interpolation, and in that case they supply no evidence either way. The fact that they are found in the LXX. as well as in the Hebrew is, however, in favour of their genuineness. It may be noted that the substance of what follows has a parallel in the Epistle ascribed to Jeremiah in the apocryphal book of Baruch.

Verse 3. - The customs of the people. "People" should, as usual, be corrected into peoples - the heathen nations are referred to. The Hebrew has "the statutes;" but the Authorized Version is substantially right, customs having a force as of iron in Eastern countries. It seems to be implied that the "customs" are of religious origin (setup. 2 Kings 17:8, where "the statutes of the heathen" are obviously the rites and customs of polytheism. For one cutteth a tree, etc. This is intended to prove the foregoing statement of the "vanity," or groundlessness, of idolatry. The order of the Hebrew, however, is more forcible, for as wood out of the forest one cutteth it, viz. the idol.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
For
כִּֽי־ (kî-)
Conjunction
Strong's 3588: A relative conjunction

the customs
חֻקּ֥וֹת (ḥuq·qō·wṯ)
Noun - feminine plural construct
Strong's 2708: Something prescribed, an enactment, statute

of the peoples
הָֽעַמִּ֖ים (hā·‘am·mîm)
Article | Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 5971: A people, a tribe, troops, attendants, a flock

are worthless;
הֶ֣בֶל (he·ḇel)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 1892: Emptiness, vanity, transitory, unsatisfactory

they cut down
כְּרָת֔וֹ (kə·rā·ṯōw)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person masculine singular | third person masculine singular
Strong's 3772: To cut, to destroy, consume, to covenant

a tree
עֵץ֙ (‘êṣ)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 6086: Tree, trees, wood

from the forest;
מִיַּ֣עַר (mî·ya·‘ar)
Preposition-m | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 3293: A copse of bushes, a forest, honey in the comb

it is shaped
מַעֲשֵׂ֥ה (ma·‘ă·śêh)
Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 4639: An action, a transaction, activity, a product, property

with a chisel
בַּֽמַּעֲצָֽד׃ (bam·ma·‘ă·ṣāḏ)
Preposition-b, Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 4621: An axe

by the hands
יְדֵ֥י־ (yə·ḏê-)
Noun - fdc
Strong's 3027: A hand

of a craftsman.
חָרָ֖שׁ (ḥā·rāš)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 2796: A fabricator, any material


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OT Prophets: Jeremiah 10:3 For the customs of the peoples (Jer.)
Jeremiah 10:2
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