Jeremiah 10:3 · KJV
“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. {customs...: Heb. statutes, or, ordinances are vanity}”
— Jeremiah 10:3
Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.
They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.
Jeremiah 10 — Context
Hear ye the word which the LORD speaketh unto you, O house of Israel:
2Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.
3For 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. {customs...: Heb. statutes, or, ordinances are vanity}
4They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.
5They {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.
Cross References
1 Peter 1:18
Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, {as} silver and gold, from your vain conversation {received} by tradition from your fathers;
Isaiah 44:9-20
They that make a graven image {are} all of them vanity; and their delectable things shall not profit; and they {are} their own witnesses; they see not, nor know; that they may be ashamed. {delectable: Heb. desirable}
Leviticus 18:30
Therefore shall ye keep mine ordinance, that {ye} commit not {any one} of these abominable customs, which were committed before you, and that ye defile not yourselves therein: I {am} the LORD your God.
Romans 1:21
Because that, when they knew God, they glorified {him} not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
Jeremiah 10:8
But they are altogether brutish and foolish: the stock {is} a doctrine of vanities. {altogether: Heb. in one, or, at once}
Isaiah 45:20
Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, ye {that are} escaped of the nations: they have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a god {that} cannot save.
Matthew 6:7
But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen {do}: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
1 Kings 18:26-28
And they took the bullock which was given them, and they dressed {it}, and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us. But {there was} no voice, nor any that answered. And they leaped upon the altar which was made. {hear: or, answer} {answered: or, heard} {leaped...: or, leaped up and down at the altar}