Jeremiah 2:11

2:11 Has a nation ever changed its gods

(even though they are not really gods at all)?

But my people have exchanged me, their glorious God, ¹ 

for a god that cannot help them at all! ² 

Jeremiah 10:5

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.” ³ 

Isaiah 44:10

44:10 Who forms a god and casts an idol

that will prove worthless? ⁴ 

[2:11]  ¹ tn Heb “have exchanged their glory [i.e., the God in whom they glory].” This is a case of a figure of speech where the attribute of a person or thing is put for the person or thing. Compare the common phrase in Isaiah, the Holy One of Israel, obviously referring to the Lord, the God of Israel.

[2:11]  ² tn Heb “what cannot profit.” The verb is singular and the allusion is likely to Baal. See the translator’s note on 2:8 for the likely pun or wordplay.

[10:5]  ³ tn Heb “And it is not in them to do good either.”

[44:10]  ⁴ tn The rhetorical question is sarcastic. The sense is, “Who is foolish enough…?”