Jeremiah 10:14

10:14 All these idolaters ¹  will prove to be stupid and ignorant.

Every goldsmith will be disgraced by the idol he made.

For the image he forges is merely a sham. ² 

There is no breath in any of those idols. ³ 

Jeremiah 50:2

50:2 “Announce ⁴  the news among the nations! Proclaim it!

Signal for people to pay attention! ⁵ 

Declare the news! Do not hide it! Say:

‘Babylon will be captured.

Bel ⁶  will be put to shame.

Marduk will be dismayed.

Babylon’s idols will be put to shame.

Her disgusting images ⁷  will be dismayed. ⁸ 

Psalms 135:17

135:17 and ears, but cannot hear.

Indeed, they cannot breathe. ⁹ 

Habakkuk 2:18-19

2:18 What good ¹⁰  is an idol? Why would a craftsman make it? ¹¹ 

What good is a metal image that gives misleading oracles? ¹² 

Why would its creator place his trust in it ¹³ 

and make ¹⁴  such mute, worthless things?

2:19 The one who says to wood, ‘Wake up!’ is as good as dead ¹⁵  –

he who says ¹⁶  to speechless stone, ‘Awake!’

Can it give reliable guidance? ¹⁷ 

It is overlaid with gold and silver;

it has no life’s breath inside it.

[10:14]  ¹ tn Heb “Every man.” But in the context this is not a reference to all people without exception but to all idolaters. The referent is made explicit for the sake of clarity.

[10:14]  ² tn Or “nothing but a phony god”; Heb “a lie/falsehood.”

[10:14]  ³ tn Heb “There is no breath in them.” The referent is made explicit so that no one will mistakenly take it to refer to the idolaters or goldsmiths.

[50:2]  ⁴ tn The verbs are masculine plural. Jeremiah is calling on other unnamed messengers to spread the news.

[50:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “Raise a signal flag.”

[50:2]  ⁶ sn Bel was originally the name or title applied to the Sumerian storm god. During the height of Babylon’s power it became a title that was applied to Marduk who was Babylon’s chief deity. As a title it means “Lord.” Here it is a poetical parallel reference to Marduk mentioned in the next line.

[50:2]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew word used here (גִּלּוּלִים, gillulim) is always used as a disdainful reference to idols. It is generally thought to have originally referred to “dung pellets” (cf. KBL 183 s.v. גִלּוּלִים). It is only one of several terms used in this way, such as “worthless things” (אַלִילִים, ’alilim), “vanities,” or “empty winds” (הֲבָלִים, havalim).

[50:2]  ⁸ tn The verbs here are all in the tense that views the actions as though they were already done (the Hebrew prophetic perfect). The verbs in the next verse are a mixture of prophetic perfects and imperfects which announce future actions.

[135:17]  ⁹ tn Heb “indeed, there is not breath in their mouth.” For the collocation אַף אֵין (’af ’en, “indeed, there is not”) see Isa 41:26. Another option is to take אַף as “nose” (see Ps 115:6), in which case one might translate, “a nose, [but] they have no breath in their mouths.”

[2:18]  ¹⁰ tn Or “of what value.”

[2:18]  ¹¹ tn Heb “so that the one who forms it fashions it?” Here כִּי (ki) is taken as resultative after the rhetorical question. For other examples of this use, see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 73, §450.

[2:18]  ¹² tn Heb “or a metal image, a teacher of lies.” The words “What good is” in the translation are supplied from the previous parallel line. “Teacher of lies” refers to the false oracles that the so-called god would deliver through a priest. See J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah (OTL), 126.

[2:18]  ¹³ tn Heb “so that the one who forms his image trusts in it?” As earlier in the verse, כִּי (ki) is resultative.

[2:18]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “to make.”

[2:19]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Woe [to] the one who says.” On the term הוֹי (hoy) see the note on the word “dead” in v. 6.

[2:19]  ¹⁶ tn The words “he who says” in the translation are supplied from the previous parallel line.

[2:19]  ¹⁷ tn Though the Hebrew text has no formal interrogative marker here, the context indicates that the statement should be taken as a rhetorical question anticipating the answer, “Of course not!” (so also NIV, NRSV).