Bible Strands
Jeremiah 10:12
The LORD made the earth by His power; He established the world by His wisdom and stretched out the heavens by His understanding.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jeremiah addresses the people of Judah, contrasting the LORD's creative acts with the impotence of foreign gods (v. 11). The moment is a prophetic polemic: the LORD alone made, established, and stretched out; the idols made nothing.
The words — עֹשֵׂה ('o.Seh), a participle meaning "the one who makes," frames the verb as a defining characteristic rather than a one-time event. תְּבוּנָה (te.vu.nah), "understanding," is the third attribute, distinct from חָכְמָה (wisdom) in the same verse, paired with the act of stretching out the heavens.
The thread — Proverbs 3:19 mirrors the structure almost exactly: "The LORD founded the earth by wisdom and established the heavens by understanding." Job 9:8 echoes the "stretches out the heavens" language.
Why it lands — The verse forces a binary: either the LORD is the Creator described here, or the idols are the gods, and one of those claims is false. It asks the reader to see that the distinction is not one of degree but of kind.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion.
Cross-references
- Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
- Job 9:8 He alone stretches out the heavens and treads on the waves of the sea.
- Proverbs 3:19 The LORD founded the earth by wisdom and established the heavens by understanding.
- 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.
- Psalms 24:2 For He has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters.
- John 1:3 Through Him all things were made, and without Him nothing was made that has been made.
- Colossians 1:16 For in Him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things were created through Him and for Him.
- Job 38:4 Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding.
- Psalms 33:6 By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and all the stars by the breath of His mouth.
- Psalms 104:24 How many are Your works, O LORD! In wisdom You have made them all; the earth is full of Your creatures.