Bible Strands
Jeremiah 10:14
Every man is senseless and devoid of knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols. For his molten images are a fraud, and there is no breath in them.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jeremiah addresses Judah, immediately after describing the living God who thunders and sends rain (v. 13), to expose the contrast with their hand-made images.
The words — נִבְעַר (niv.'ar, H1197) is a blunt, rare term for senselessness, stronger than the usual "foolish"; it strips the subject of any dignity.
The thread — The same lifelessness recurs in Psalms 115:4 and 135:16 (idols made by hands, unable to act) and Isaiah 46:7 (the image stands, not budging).
Why it lands — The verse indicts the worshipper before the idol: "every man is senseless" comes first, and the reader is asked to test whether their own trust in something inert is the real problem.
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
Every man is brutish in his knowledge: every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.
Cross-references
- Psalms 135:16 They have mouths, but cannot speak; they have eyes, but cannot see;
- Psalms 115:4 Their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men.
- Isaiah 46:7 They lift it to their shoulder and carry it along; they set it in its place, and there it stands, not budging from that spot. They cry out to it, but it does not answer; it saves no one from his troubles.
- 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.
- 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.
- Romans 1:22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools,
- Jeremiah 51:17 Every man is senseless and devoid of knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols. For his molten images are a fraud, and there is no breath in them.
- Isaiah 42:17 But those who trust in idols and say to molten images, ‘You are our gods!’ will be turned back in utter shame.
- Jeremiah 10:8 But they are altogether senseless and foolish, instructed by worthless idols made of wood!
- Isaiah 45:16 They will all be put to shame and humiliated; the makers of idols will depart together in disgrace.