jeremias-10:3-nvt

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Jeremiah 10:3

The customs - Better, as the marg, “the ordinances,” established institutions, “of the peoples, i. e.” pagan nations. read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Jeremiah 10:3-5

Jeremiah 10:3-5. One cutteth down a tree, &c. The prophet here exposes the folly of men’s worshipping the work of their own hands, by arguments similar to those which are used by Isaiah 44:10-20; where see the notes. They are upright, &c. They are like the trunk of the palm-tree Houb. “They are inflexible, immoveable, fixed, without action or motion, like the trunk of a tree: a comparison which admirably suits the ancient statues seen in Egypt and elsewhere, before the art of... read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Jeremiah 10:1-16

Knowledge of the only true God (9:23-10:16)People may have knowledge, power and wealth, but these are no substitute for a true understanding and knowledge of God (23-24). The Judeans may have been circumcised as a sign that they are the covenant people of God, but in their hearts they have not been true to God or the covenant. They might as well be uncircumcised like their heathen neighbours. Israel’s rite of circumcision is no more beneficial to disobedient people than the heathen rite of... read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Jeremiah 10:3

customs = statutes, or ordinances. people = peoples. vain = a breath. one cutteth a tree = it [is only] a tree which one cutteth. read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Jeremiah 10:3

Jeremiah 10:3. The people— The nations. read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Jeremiah 10:1-16

A satire on idolatry 10:1-16This scathing exposé of the folly of idolatry resembles several polemics in Isaiah (cf. Isaiah 40:18-20; Isaiah 41:6-7; Isaiah 44:9-20; Isaiah 46:5-7). Jeremiah 10:12-16 appear again in Jeremiah 51:15-19."Why did so easy a target as idolatry need so many attacks in the Old Testament? Jeremiah 10:9 suggests one reason: the appeal of the visually impressive; but perhaps Jeremiah 10:2 goes deeper, in pointing to the temptation to fall into step with the majority."... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Jeremiah 10:3

The worship of the Gentiles was an empty delusion. They worshipped only wood, cut from the forest, that a craftsman shaped with a tool. These gods were no more than pieces of wood. read more

John Dummelow

John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - Jeremiah 10:1-25

1-16. The folly of idolatry.This section of the prophecy is of doubtful authorship. For (a) it introduces a break in the sense; (b) there is less smoothness between the parts than we generally find in Jeremiah’s writings; (c) its language differs considerably from his use elsewhere, and closely resembles that of Isaiah 40-44; (d) the writer emphasises the fact that false gods are incapable of hurting, while Jeremiah elsewhere speaks rather of them as powerless to aid; (e) Isaiah 44:2, Isaiah... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Jeremiah 10:3

(3) The customs of the people.—Better, ordinances of the peoples. The prophet is speaking, not of common customs, but of religious institutions, and of these as belonging, not to “the people,” i.e., Israel, but to the nations round them. The verses that follow are so closely parallel to Isaiah 41:7; Isaiah 44:9-17; Isaiah 46:5-7 (where see Notes), that the natural conclusion is that one writer had seen the work of the other. The grandeur and fulness of Isaiah’s language, and the unlikeness of... read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Dictionary of Texts - Jeremiah 10:1-25

Jeremiah 10:11 Dr. Stock, in his History of the Church Missionary Society, says that Claudius Buchanan, in his valedictory address to the first men sent to India, refers to this unique Chaldaic verse embedded in the Hebrew of Jeremiah's prophecy. 'Just as if,' says Buchanan, 'while you are receiving instructions in your own tongue, one sentence should be given you in the Tamil or Cinghalese language which you should deliver to the Hindus.' Reference. X. 16. A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy... read more