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For the carved images of the nations are powerless;
    they are nothing more than wood cut from a forest,
fashioned with a knife by craftsmen
    and embellished with silver and gold.
Then they are fastened with hammers and nails
    to prevent them from toppling.
Like scarecrows in a cucumber field
    they are unable to speak,
and they must be carried from place to place
    since they cannot walk.
Do not be afraid of them,
    for they can do no harm,
    nor do they have any power to do good.

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For the practices of the peoples are worthless;
    they cut a tree out of the forest,
    and a craftsman(A) shapes it with his chisel.(B)
They adorn it with silver(C) and gold;
    they fasten it with hammer and nails
    so it will not totter.(D)
Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field,
    their idols cannot speak;(E)
they must be carried
    because they cannot walk.(F)
Do not fear them;
    they can do no harm(G)
    nor can they do any good.”(H)

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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.

They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.

They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good.

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For the customs of the peoples are [a]futile;
For (A)one cuts a tree from the forest,
The work of the hands of the workman, with the ax.
They decorate it with silver and gold;
They (B)fasten it with nails and hammers
So that it will not topple.
They are upright, like a palm tree,
And (C)they cannot speak;
They must be (D)carried,
Because they cannot go by themselves.
Do not be afraid of them,
For (E)they cannot do evil,
Nor can they do any good.”

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 10:3 Lit. vanity

(A)for the customs of the peoples are vanity.[a]
(B)A tree from the forest is cut down
    and worked with an axe by the hands of a craftsman.
(C)They decorate it with silver and gold;
    (D)they fasten it with hammer and nails
    so that it cannot move.
Their idols[b] are like scarecrows in a cucumber field,
    and (E)they cannot speak;
(F)they have to be carried,
    for they cannot walk.
Do not be afraid of them,
    (G)for they cannot do evil,
    neither is it in them to do good.”

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 10:3 Or vapor, or mist
  2. Jeremiah 10:5 Hebrew They