Discovery BoxPsalms 115:4-8
Context115:4 Their 1 idols are made of silver and gold –
they are man-made. 2
115:5 They have mouths, but cannot speak,
eyes, but cannot see,
115:6 ears, but cannot hear,
noses, but cannot smell,
115:7 hands, but cannot touch,
feet, but cannot walk.
They cannot even clear their throats. 3
115:8 Those who make them will end up 4 like them,
as will everyone who trusts in them.
Isaiah 37:18-19
Context37:18 It is true, Lord, that the kings of Assyria have destroyed all the nations 5 and their lands. 37:19 They have burned the gods of the nations, 6 for they are not really gods, but only the product of human hands manufactured from wood and stone. That is why the Assyrians could destroy them. 7
Isaiah 44:9-20
Context44:9 All who form idols are nothing;
the things in which they delight are worthless.
Their witnesses cannot see;
they recognize nothing, so they are put to shame.
44:10 Who forms a god and casts an idol
that will prove worthless? 8
44:11 Look, all his associates 9 will be put to shame;
the craftsmen are mere humans. 10
Let them all assemble and take their stand!
They will panic and be put to shame.
44:12 A blacksmith works with his tool 11
and forges metal over the coals.
He forms it 12 with hammers;
he makes it with his strong arm.
He gets hungry and loses his energy; 13
he drinks no water and gets tired.
44:13 A carpenter takes measurements; 14
he marks out an outline of its form; 15
he scrapes 16 it with chisels,
and marks it with a compass.
He patterns it after the human form, 17
like a well-built human being,
and puts it in a shrine. 18
44:14 He cuts down cedars
and acquires a cypress 19 or an oak.
He gets 20 trees from the forest;
he plants a cedar 21 and the rain makes it grow.
44:15 A man uses it to make a fire; 22
he takes some of it and warms himself.
Yes, he kindles a fire and bakes bread.
Then he makes a god and worships it;
he makes an idol and bows down to it. 23
44:16 Half of it he burns in the fire –
over that half he cooks 24 meat;
he roasts a meal and fills himself.
Yes, he warms himself and says,
‘Ah! I am warm as I look at the fire.’
44:17 With the rest of it he makes a god, his idol;
he bows down to it and worships it.
He prays to it, saying,
‘Rescue me, for you are my god!’
44:18 They do not comprehend or understand,
for their eyes are blind and cannot see;
their minds do not discern. 25
44:19 No one thinks to himself,
nor do they comprehend or understand and say to themselves:
‘I burned half of it in the fire –
yes, I baked bread over the coals;
I roasted meat and ate it.
With the rest of it should I make a disgusting idol?
Should I bow down to dry wood?’ 26
his deceived mind misleads him.
He cannot rescue himself,
nor does he say, ‘Is this not a false god I hold in my right hand?’ 28
Jeremiah 10:3-9
Context10:3 For the religion 29 of these people is worthless.
They cut down a tree in the forest,
and a craftsman makes it into an idol with his tools. 30
10:4 He decorates it with overlays of silver and gold.
He uses hammer and nails to fasten it 31 together
so that it will not fall over.
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.” 32
“There is no one like you, Lord. 34
You are great.
And you are renowned for your power. 35
10:7 Everyone should revere you, O King of all nations, 36
because you deserve to be revered. 37
For there is no one like you
among any of the wise people of the nations nor among any of their kings. 38
10:8 The people of those nations 39 are both stupid and foolish.
Instruction from a wooden idol is worthless! 40
10:9 Hammered-out silver is brought from Tarshish 41
and gold is brought from Uphaz 42 to cover those idols. 43
They are the handiwork of carpenters and goldsmiths. 44
They are clothed in blue and purple clothes. 45
They are all made by skillful workers. 46
Jeremiah 10:14-16
Context10:14 All these idolaters 47 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. 48
There is no breath in any of those idols. 49
10:15 They are worthless, mere objects to be mocked. 50
When the time comes to punish them, they will be destroyed.
10:16 The Lord, who is the inheritance 51 of Jacob’s descendants, 52 is not like them.
He is the one who created everything.
And the people of Israel are those he claims as his own. 53
He is known as the Lord who rules over all.” 54
Acts 17:29
Context17:29 So since we are God’s offspring, we should not think the deity 55 is like gold or silver or stone, an image 56 made by human 57 skill 58 and imagination. 59
[115:4] 1 tn The referent of the pronominal suffix is “the nations” (v. 2).
[115:4] 2 tn Heb “the work of the hands of man.”
[115:7] 3 tn Heb “they cannot mutter in their throats.” Verse 5a refers to speaking, v. 7c to inarticulate sounds made in the throat (see M. Dahood, Psalms [AB], 3:140-41).
[115:8] 4 tn Heb “will be.” Another option is to take the prefixed verbal form as a prayer, “may those who make them end up like them.”
[37:18] 5 tn The Hebrew text here has “all the lands,” but the parallel text in 2 Kgs 19:17 has “the nations.”
[37:19] 6 tn Heb “and they put their gods in the fire.”
[37:19] 7 tn Heb “so they destroyed them” (NASB similar).
[44:10] 8 tn The rhetorical question is sarcastic. The sense is, “Who is foolish enough…?”
[44:11] 9 tn The pronoun “his” probably refers to the one who forms/casts an idol (v. 10), in which case it refers to the craftsman’s associates in the idol-manufacturing guild.
[44:11] 10 sn The point seems to be this: If the idols are the mere products of human hands, then those who trust in them will be disappointed, for man-made gods are incapable of helping their “creators.”
[44:12] 11 tn The noun מַעֲצָד (ma’atsad), which refers to some type of tool used for cutting, occurs only here and in Jer 10:3. See HALOT 615 s.v. מַעֲצָד.
[44:12] 12 tn Some English versions take the pronoun “it” to refer to an idol being fashioned by the blacksmith (cf. NIV, NCV, CEV). NLT understands the referent to be “a sharp tool,” which is then used by the carpenter in the following verse to carve an idol from wood.
[44:12] 13 tn Heb “and there is no strength”; NASB “his strength fails.”
[44:13] 14 tn Heb “stretches out a line” (ASV similar); NIV “measures with a line.”
[44:13] 15 tn Heb “he makes an outline with the [?].” The noun שֶׂרֶד (shered) occurs only here; it apparently refers to some type of tool or marker. Cf. KJV “with a line”; ASV “with a pencil”; NAB, NRSV “with a stylus”; NASB “with red chalk”; NIV “with a marker.”
[44:13] 16 tn Heb “works” (so NASB) or “fashions” (so NRSV); NIV “he roughs it out.”
[44:13] 17 tn Heb “he makes it like the pattern of a man”; NAB “like a man in appearance.”
[44:13] 18 tn Heb “like the glory of man to sit [in] a house”; NIV “that it may dwell in a shrine.”
[44:14] 19 tn It is not certain what type of tree this otherwise unattested noun refers to. Cf. ASV “a holm-tree” (NRSV similar).
[44:14] 20 tn Heb “strengthens for himself,” i.e., “secures for himself” (see BDB 55 s.v. אָמֵץ Pi.2).
[44:14] 21 tn Some prefer to emend אֹרֶן (’oren) to אֶרֶז (’erez, “cedar”), but the otherwise unattested noun appears to have an Akkadian cognate, meaning “cedar.” See H. R. Cohen, Biblical Hapax Legomena (SBLDS), 44-45. HALOT 90 s.v. I אֹרֶן offers the meaning “laurel.”
[44:15] 22 tn Heb “and it becomes burning [i.e., firewood] for a man”; NAB “to serve man for fuel.”
[44:15] 23 tn Or perhaps, “them.”
[44:16] 24 tn Heb “eats” (so NASB); NAB, NRSV “roasts.”
[44:18] 25 tn Heb “for their eyes are smeared over so they cannot see, so their heart cannot be wise.”
[44:19] 26 tn There is no formal interrogative sign here, but the context seems to indicate these are rhetorical questions. See GKC 473 §150.a.
[44:20] 27 tn Or perhaps, “he eats on an ash heap.”
[44:20] 28 tn Heb “Is it not a lie in my right hand?”
[10:3] 29 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] 30 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] 31 tn The pronoun is plural in Hebrew, referring to the parts.
[10:5] 32 tn Heb “And it is not in them to do good either.”
[10:6] 33 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] 34 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] 35 tn Heb “Great is your name in power.”
[10:7] 36 tn Heb “Who should not revere you…?” The question is rhetorical and expects a negative answer.
[10:7] 37 tn Heb “For it is fitting to you.”
[10:7] 38 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] 39 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] 40 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] 41 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] 42 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] 43 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] 44 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] 45 tn Heb “Blue and purple their clothing.”
[10:9] 46 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.”
[10:14] 47 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] 48 tn Or “nothing but a phony god”; Heb “a lie/falsehood.”
[10:14] 49 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] 50 tn Or “objects of mockery.”
[10:16] 51 tn The words “The
[10:16] 52 tn Heb “The Portion of Jacob.” “Descendants” is implied, and is supplied in the translation for clarity.
[10:16] 53 tn Heb “And Israel is the tribe of his possession.”
[10:16] 54 tn Heb “Yahweh of armies is his name.”
[17:29] 55 tn Or “the divine being.” BDAG 446 s.v. θεῖος 1.b has “divine being, divinity” here.
[17:29] 56 tn Or “a likeness.” Again idolatry is directly attacked as an affront to God and a devaluation of him.
[17:29] 57 tn Grk “by the skill and imagination of man,” but ἀνθρώπου (anqrwpou) has been translated as an attributive genitive.
[17:29] 58 tn Or “craftsmanship” (cf. BDAG 1001 s.v. τέχνη).
[17:29] 59 tn Or “thought.” BDAG 336 s.v. ἐνθύμησις has “thought, reflection, idea” as the category of meaning here, but in terms of creativity (as in the context) the imaginative faculty is in view.
