Jeremiah 10:3-4

10:3 For the religion ¹  of these people is worthless.

They cut down a tree in the forest,

and a craftsman makes it into an idol with his tools. ² 

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

He uses hammer and nails to fasten it ³  together

so that it will not fall over.

[10:3]  ¹ 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]  ² 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]  ³ tn The pronoun is plural in Hebrew, referring to the parts.