Berean BlueOpen the app

Scripture · Old Testament

Jeremiah 10:3

Jeremiah 10:3 is verse 3 of Jeremiah chapter 10, shown here in the Berean Standard Bible.

Berean Standard Bible

For the customs of the peoples are worthless; they cut down a tree from the forest; it is shaped with a chisel by the hands of a craftsman.

BSB source and public domain terms

King James Version

For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe.

World English Bible

For the customs of the peoples are vanity; for one cuts a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman with the ax.

Read in context

Jeremiah 10:1–5 · Berean Standard Bible

1 Hear the word that the LORD speaks to you, O house of Israel.

2 This is what the LORD says: “Do not learn the ways of the nations or be terrified by the signs in the heavens, though the nations themselves are terrified by them.

3 For the customs of the peoples are worthless; they cut down a tree from the forest; it is shaped with a chisel by the hands of a craftsman.

4 They adorn it with silver and gold and fasten it with hammer and nails, so that it will not totter.

5 Like scarecrows in a cucumber patch, their idols cannot speak. They must be carried because they cannot walk. Do not fear them, for they can do no harm, and neither can they do any good.”

Read all of Jeremiah 10

Hebrew words

Data created by STEPBible.org based on work at Tyndale House Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Study Jeremiah 10:3

Read the commentary on Jeremiah 10

Cross-references

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge lists these related verses. Scripture text comes from the Berean Standard Bible.

Jeremiah 10:8

But they are altogether senseless and foolish, instructed by worthless idols made of wood!

Jeremiah 2:5

This is what the LORD says: “What fault did your fathers find in Me that they strayed so far from Me, and followed worthless idols, and became worthless themselves?

Leviticus 18:30

You must keep My charge not to practice any of the abominable customs that were practiced before you, so that you do not defile yourselves by them. I am the LORD your God.”

1 Kings 18:26

And they took the bull that was given them, prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from morning until noon, shouting, “O Baal, answer us!” But there was no sound, and no one answered as they leaped around the altar they had made.

1 Kings 18:27

At noon Elijah began to taunt them, saying, “Shout louder, for he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or occupied, or on a journey. Perhaps he is sleeping and must be awakened!”

1 Kings 18:28

So they shouted louder and cut themselves with knives and lances, as was their custom, until the blood gushed over them.

Matthew 6:7

And when you pray, do not babble on like pagans, for they think that by their many words they will be heard.

Romans 1:21

For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking and darkened in their foolish hearts.

1 Peter 1:18

For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life you inherited from your forefathers,

Isaiah 40:19

To an idol that a craftsman casts and a metalworker overlays with gold and fits with silver chains?

Isaiah 40:20

To one bereft of an offering who chooses wood that will not rot, who seeks a skilled craftsman to set up an idol that will not topple?

Isaiah 40:21

Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not understood since the foundation of the earth?

Isaiah 40:22

He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth; its dwellers are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.

Isaiah 40:23

He brings the princes to nothing and makes the rulers of the earth meaningless.

Isaiah 40:24

No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner have their stems taken root in the ground, than He blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind sweeps them away like stubble.

Isaiah 40:25

“To whom will you liken Me, or who is My equal?” asks the Holy One.

Isaiah 40:26

Lift up your eyes on high: Who created all these? He leads forth the starry host by number; He calls each one by name. Because of His great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.

Isaiah 40:27

Why do you say, O Jacob, and why do you assert, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the LORD, and my claim is ignored by my God”?

Isaiah 40:28

Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary; His understanding is beyond searching out.

Isaiah 40:29

He gives power to the faint and increases the strength of the weak.

Isaiah 40:30

Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall.

Isaiah 40:31

But those who wait upon the LORD will renew their strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint.

Isaiah 44:9

All makers of idols are nothing, and the things they treasure are worthless. Their witnesses fail to see or comprehend, so they are put to shame.

Isaiah 44:10

Who fashions a god or casts an idol which profits him nothing?

Isaiah 44:11

Behold, all his companions will be put to shame, for the craftsmen themselves are only human. Let them all assemble and take their stand; they will all be brought to terror and shame.

Isaiah 44:12

The blacksmith takes a tool and labors over the coals; he fashions an idol with hammers and forges it with his strong arms. Yet he grows hungry and loses his strength; he fails to drink water and grows faint.

Isaiah 44:13

The woodworker extends a measuring line; he marks it out with a stylus; he shapes it with chisels and outlines it with a compass. He fashions it in the likeness of man, like man in all his glory, that it may dwell in a shrine.

Isaiah 44:14

He cuts down cedars or retrieves a cypress or oak. He lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest. He plants a laurel, and the rain makes it grow.

Isaiah 44:15

It serves as fuel for man. He takes some of it to warm himself, and he kindles a fire and bakes his bread; he even fashions it into a god and worships it; he makes an idol and bows down to it.

Isaiah 44:16

He burns half of it in the fire, and he roasts meat on that half. He eats the roast and is satisfied. Indeed, he warms himself and says, “Ah! I am warm; I see the fire.”

Isaiah 44:17

From the rest he makes a god, his graven image. He bows down to it and worships; he prays to it and says, “Save me, for you are my god.”

Isaiah 44:18

They do not comprehend or discern, for He has shut their eyes so they cannot see and closed their minds so they cannot understand.

Isaiah 44:19

And no one considers in his heart, no one has the knowledge or insight to say, “I burned half of it in the fire, and I baked bread on its coals; I roasted meat and I ate. Shall I make something detestable with the rest of it? Shall I bow down to a block of wood?”

Isaiah 44:20

He feeds on ashes. His deluded heart has led him astray, and he cannot deliver himself or say, “Is not this thing in my right hand a lie?”

Isaiah 45:20

Come, gather together, and draw near, you fugitives from the nations. Ignorant are those who carry idols of wood and pray to a god that cannot save.

Hosea 8:4

They set up kings, but not by Me. They make princes, but without My approval. With their silver and gold they make themselves idols, to their own destruction.

Hosea 8:5

He has rejected your calf, O Samaria. My anger burns against them. How long will they be incapable of innocence?

Hosea 8:6

For this thing is from Israel— a craftsman made it, and it is not God. It will be broken to pieces, that calf of Samaria.

Habakkuk 2:18

What use is an idol, that a craftsman should carve it— or an image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak.

Habakkuk 2:19

Woe to him who says to wood, ‘Awake!’ or to silent stone, ‘Arise!’ Can it give guidance? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, yet there is no breath in it at all.”

Open in Berean Blue