Discovery BoxJeremiah 10:5-25
Context10:5 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.” 1
“There is no one like you, Lord. 3
You are great.
And you are renowned for your power. 4
10:7 Everyone should revere you, O King of all nations, 5
because you deserve to be revered. 6
For there is no one like you
among any of the wise people of the nations nor among any of their kings. 7
10:8 The people of those nations 8 are both stupid and foolish.
Instruction from a wooden idol is worthless! 9
10:9 Hammered-out silver is brought from Tarshish 10
and gold is brought from Uphaz 11 to cover those idols. 12
They are the handiwork of carpenters and goldsmiths. 13
They are clothed in blue and purple clothes. 14
They are all made by skillful workers. 15
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 16 from the earth and from under the heavens.’ 17
10:12 The Lord is the one who 18 by his power made the earth.
He is the one who by his wisdom established the world.
And by his understanding he spread out the skies.
10:13 When his voice thunders, 19 the heavenly ocean roars.
He makes the clouds rise from the far-off horizons. 20
He makes the lightning flash out in the midst of the rain.
He unleashes the wind from the places where he stores it. 21
10:14 All these idolaters 22 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. 23
There is no breath in any of those idols. 24
10:15 They are worthless, mere objects to be mocked. 25
When the time comes to punish them, they will be destroyed.
10:16 The Lord, who is the inheritance 26 of Jacob’s descendants, 27 is not like them.
He is the one who created everything.
And the people of Israel are those he claims as his own. 28
He is known as the Lord who rules over all.” 29
10:17 Gather your belongings together and prepare to leave the land,
you people of Jerusalem 30 who are being besieged. 31
10:18 For the Lord says, “I will now throw out
those who live in this land.
I will bring so much trouble on them
that they will actually feel it.” 32
10:19 And I cried out, 33 “We are doomed! 34
Our wound is severe!
We once thought, ‘This is only an illness.
And we will be able to bear it!’ 35
10:20 But our tents have been destroyed.
The ropes that held them in place have been ripped apart. 36
Our children are gone and are not coming back. 37
There is no survivor to put our tents back up,
no one left to hang their tent curtains in place.
10:21 For our leaders 38 are stupid.
They have not sought the Lord’s advice. 39
So they do not act wisely,
and the people they are responsible for 40 have all been scattered.
10:22 Listen! News is coming even now. 41
The rumble of a great army is heard approaching 42 from a land in the north. 43
It is coming to turn the towns of Judah into rubble,
places where only jackals live.
10:23 Lord, we know that people do not control their own destiny. 44
It is not in their power to determine what will happen to them. 45
10:24 Correct us, Lord, but only in due measure. 46
Do not punish us in anger or you will reduce us to nothing. 47
10:25 Vent your anger on the nations that do not acknowledge you. 48
Vent it on the peoples 49 who do not worship you. 50
For they have destroyed the people of Jacob. 51
They have completely destroyed them 52
and left their homeland in utter ruin.
[10:5] 1 tn Heb “And it is not in them to do good either.”
[10:6] 2 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
[10:6] 3 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] 4 tn Heb “Great is your name in power.”
[10:7] 5 tn Heb “Who should not revere you…?” The question is rhetorical and expects a negative answer.
[10:7] 6 tn Heb “For it is fitting to you.”
[10:7] 7 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] 8 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] 9 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] 10 tc Two Qumran scrolls of Jeremiah (4QJera and 4QJerb) 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, 4QJera, 4QJerb 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 4QJera both have all nine verses, while LXX and 4QJerb 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 4QJerb. The translation here follows MT which is supported by 4QJera.
[10:9] 11 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] 12 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] 13 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] 14 tn Heb “Blue and purple their clothing.”
[10:9] 15 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] 16 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] 17 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
[10:12] 18 tn The words “The
[10:13] 19 tn Heb “At the voice of his giving.” The idiom “to give the voice” is often used for thunder (cf. BDB 679 s.v. נָתַן Qal.1.x).
[10:13] 20 tn Heb “from the ends of the earth.”
[10:13] 21 tn Heb “he brings out the winds from his storehouses.”
[10:14] 22 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] 23 tn Or “nothing but a phony god”; Heb “a lie/falsehood.”
[10:14] 24 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.
[10:15] 25 tn Or “objects of mockery.”
[10:16] 26 tn The words “The
[10:16] 27 tn Heb “The Portion of Jacob.” “Descendants” is implied, and is supplied in the translation for clarity.
[10:16] 28 tn Heb “And Israel is the tribe of his possession.”
[10:16] 29 tn Heb “Yahweh of armies is his name.”
[10:17] 30 map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.
[10:17] 31 tn Heb “you who are living in/under siege.” The pronouns in this verse are feminine singular in Hebrew. Jerusalem is being personified as a single woman. This personification carries on down through v. 19 where she speaks in the first person. It is difficult, however, to reflect this in a translation that conveys any meaning without being somewhat paraphrastic like this.
[10:18] 32 tn The meaning of this last line is somewhat uncertain: Heb “I will cause them distress in order that [or with the result that] they will find.” The absence of an object for the verb “find” has led to conjecture that the text is wrong. Some commentators follow the lead of the Greek and Latin versions which read the verb as a passive: “they will be found,” i.e., be caught and captured. Others follow a suggestion by G. R. Driver (“Linguistic and Textual Problems: Jeremiah,” JQR 28 [1937-38]: 107) that the verb be read not as “they will find” (יִמְצָאוּ [yimtsa’u] from מָצָא [matsa’]) but “they will be squeezed/ drained” (יִמְצוּ [yimtsu] from מָצָה [matsah]). The translation adopted assumes that this is an example of the ellipsis of the object supplied from the context (cf. E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 8-12). For a similar nuance for the verb “find” = “feel/experience” see BDB 592 s.v. מָצָא Qal.1.f and compare the usage in Ps 116:3.
[10:19] 33 tn The words, “And I cried out” are not in the text. It is not altogether clear who the speaker is in vv. 19-25. The words of vv. 19-20 would best be assigned to a personified Jerusalem who laments the destruction of her city (under the figure of a tent) and the exile of her children (under the figure of children). However, the words of v. 21 which assign responsibility to the rulers do not fit well in the mouth of the people but do fit Jeremiah. The words of v. 22 are very appropriate to Jeremiah being similar to the report in 4:19-20. Likewise the words of v. 23 which appear to express man’s incapacity to control his own destiny and his resignation to the fate which awaits him in the light of v. 24 seem more appropriate to Jeremiah than to the people. There has been no indication elsewhere that the people have shown any indication of being resigned to their fate or willing to accept their punishment. Though the issue is far from resolved a majority of commentators see Jeremiah as the speaker so identifying himself with their fate that he speaks as though he were this personified figure. It is not altogether out of the question, however, that the speaker throughout is personified Jerusalem though I know of no commentator who takes that view. For those who are interested, the most thorough discussion of the issue is probably to be found in W. McKane, Jeremiah (ICC), 1:230-35, especially 233-35. Rendering the pronouns throughout as “we” and “our” alleviates some of the difficulty but some speaker needs to be identified in the introduction to allay any possible confusion. Hence I have opted for what is the majority view.
[10:19] 34 tn Heb “Woe to me on account of my wound.” The words “woe to” in many contexts carry the connotation of hopelessness and of inevitable doom (cf. 1 Sam 4:7, 8; Isa 6:5), hence a “deadly blow.” See also the usage in 4:13, 31; 6:4 and the notes on 4:13. For the rendering of the pronoun as “we” and “our” here and in the verses to follow see the preceding note.
[10:19] 35 tn Some interpret this as a resignation to the punishment inflicted and translate “But I said, ‘This is my punishment and I will just need to bear it.’” This is unlikely given the meaning and usage of the word rendered “sickness” (חֳלִי, khali), the absence of the pronoun “my,” and the likelihood that the particle אַךְ means “only” not “indeed” (cf. BDB s.v. אַךְ 2.b and compare its usage in v. 24).
[10:20] 36 tn Heb “My tent has been destroyed and my tent cords have been ripped apart.” For a very similar identification of Jeremiah’s plight with the plight of the personified community see 4:20 and the notes there.
[10:20] 37 tn Heb “my children have gone from me and are no more.”
[10:21] 38 tn Heb “the shepherds.”
[10:21] 39 tn Heb “They have not sought the
[10:21] 40 tn Heb “all their flock (or “pasturage”).”
[10:22] 41 tn Heb “The sound of a report, behold, it is coming.”
[10:22] 42 tn Heb “ coming, even a great quaking.”
[10:22] 43 sn Compare Jer 6:22.
[10:23] 44 tn Heb “Not to the man his way.” For the nuance of “fate, destiny, or the way things turn out” for the Hebrew word “way” see Hag 1:5, Isa 40:27 and probably Ps 49:13 (cf. KBL 218 s.v. דֶּרֶךְ 5). For the idea of “control” or “hold in one’s power” for the preposition “to” see Ps 3:8 (cf. BDB 513 s.v. לְ 5.b[a]).
[10:23] 45 tn Heb “Not to a man the walking and the establishing his step.”
[10:24] 46 tn Heb “with justice.”
[10:24] 47 tn The words, “to almost nothing” are not in the text. They are implicit from the general context and are supplied by almost all English versions.
[10:25] 48 tn Heb “know you.” For this use of the word “know” (יָדַע, yada’) see the note on 9:3.
[10:25] 49 tn Heb “tribes/clans.”
[10:25] 50 tn Heb “who do not call on your name.” The idiom “to call on your name” (directed to God) refers to prayer (mainly) and praise. See 1 Kgs 18:24-26 and Ps 116:13, 17. Here “calling on your name” is parallel to “acknowledging you.” In many locations in the OT “name” is equivalent to the person. In the OT, the “name” reflected the person’s character (cf. Gen 27:36; 1 Sam 25:25) or his reputation (Gen 11:4; 2 Sam 8:13). To speak in a person’s name was to act as his representative or carry his authority (1 Sam 25:9; 1 Kgs 21:8). To call someone’s name over something was to claim it for one’s own (2 Sam 12:28).
[10:25] 51 tn Heb “have devoured Jacob.”
[10:25] 52 tn Or “have almost completely destroyed them”; Heb “they have devoured them and consumed them.” The figure of hyperbole is used here; elsewhere Jeremiah and God refer to the fact that they will not be completely consumed. See for example 4:27; 5:10, 18.
