10:1–5 Yahweh has already been quoted numerous times in Jeremiah exhorting his people to “Hear!” (e.g., 2:4; 5:21; 7:2; 9:20). But 10:1 marks the first time in the book that this summons serves as an invitation to trust rather than as a confrontation against sin. The next two verses implore Judah to reject the “way of the nations” (v. 2b) and the “customs of the peoples” (v. 3). These are the pagan ways of using astral signs for guidance (v. 2c) and making cultic images of deity out of precious materials (vv. 3–4). Both kinds of practices were used by the superstitious peoples around Judah to seek the will of the gods regarding a yet-unknown destiny. Israel and Judah should have known better than to imitate the nations, but the OT historical books narrate how the people of Yahweh were often as pagan as other peoples—if not more so (e.g., Judg. 2:19–23; 1 Kings 11:1–10; 2 Kings 17:7–23). But as Jeremiah 10 will demonstrate, the path of pursuing other gods is “vanity” (Hb. hebel; v. 3)—the kind of futility and frustration that Ecclesiastes explains in similarly physical terms as “striving after wind” (e.g., Eccles. 1:14; 2:11; 4:4).

Yahweh proceeds to turn the folly of superstition and idolatry on its head. The passage continues in the same vein as other satires on idolatry (e.g., Psalms 115; 135; Isa. 44:9–20). While the nations’ gods may appear preciously crafted and imposing in stature, Yahweh unmasks them to be only as valuable and intimidating as a scarecrow (Jer. 10:5a). In this word-picture the images have been moved from their privileged location in temples to open exposure in a cucumber field. The ineffectiveness of this farmer’s trick to shoo away birds stems from the scarecrow’s being mute and immobile (v. 5b–d). As inert things rather than living agents, idols’ impotence also extends to the moral realm, since they are helpless to send either blessing (“do good”) or curse (“do evil”) among their worshipers; the deadness of these gods means Judah need not be afraid as the nations are (v. 5e–g). Yahweh profanes what was thought to be sacred in the ancient world in order to show that idolatry is as irrational as it is sinful.

10:6–10 The people answer Yahweh with a liturgy of joy and gratitude. Because the God of Judah has no equal in power or reputation (v. 6), he deserves worship from all peoples as “King of the nations” (v. 7). Here the doctrine of Yahwistic monotheism is conceived not so much as a denial of the existence of other gods as an assertion of their irrelevance compared to Yahweh. In fact, anyone who worships them is insulted as “both stupid and foolish; the instruction of idols is but wood!” (v. 8). It matters nothing that the finest materials and expert workmanship are involved (v. 9); the truth of the matter is that “the Lord is the true God; he is the living God and the everlasting King” (v. 10). As the “living God,” Yahweh need not die and rise annually, like Baal the Canaanite god; because Yahweh is the “everlasting King,” he is superior to Marduk, the Babylonian god who seized control over the pantheon of Mesopotamia by toppling other gods. The God of Judah is not just a regional deity, nor even a national deity, but a cosmic deity who rules supremely over creation and all nations (v. 10).

10:11 Most provocatively of all, other nations must hear these truths in their own language. Verse 11 switches to Aramaic, a lingua franca associated with imperial power (e.g., 2 Kings 18:26). This is an anticipation of Pentecost, at which Yahweh’s message is proclaimed in many languages (Acts 2). But here the audience is the entire world, not merely a small diaspora of Jews, for Jeremiah’s bilingual audience is directed to switch from Hebrew to Aramaic and thereby expose the shortcomings of the gods of the nations. The reversal of fortunes that these gods must suffer is chronicled by a remarkable example of literary form serving theological function. This is the original word order in Aramaic:

(A) The gods

(B) who the heavens

and the earth

(C) did not make

(C') shall perish

(B') from the earth

and from under the heavens.

This is a chiastic structure highlighting the fact that noncreator gods are lower than the Creator, who stands above the heavens and the earth he has made. In fact, the missing A' parallel to the A element (“The gods”) supplies literary support of the theological truth that these impotent deities are invisible, of less use even than a scarecrow (cf. Jer. 10:5), which is at least visible (though nonetheless oft-ignored).

10:12–16 Further evidence for the polemic against other gods (cf. v. 11) comes in a doxology praising Yahweh’s uniqueness as the powerful Creator who made the earth and the heavens (v. 12). Verses 12–16 and their exposition of the Creator’s might are repeated in 51:15–19, a rather different context in which Babylon’s certain fall is predicted. In Jeremiah 10, however, emphasis lies on the contrast between Yahweh’s wisdom and human folly. The God of Judah is also the Creator of the universe, who unfolded his creative works by means of “wisdom” and “understanding” (v. 12; cf. Job 38:4, 36–37; Prov. 8:22–31). He exercises control over his dominion simply through speech (Jer. 10:13; cf. Genesis 1; Ps. 147:18).

The human who makes idols lacks all such creative power. This stark contrast between humanity and God is unfolded in Jeremiah 10:14–16 through a litany of insults. Not only are idol makers “stupid and without knowledge,” but the idols they make are “false,” and “there is no breath in them” due to their being “worthless, a work of delusion.” To the extent that these gods may be said to exist, their fate is clear: “At the time of their punishment they shall perish.” The Hebrew root for “perish” (ʾabad) is a cognate to the Aramaic root used earlier (v. 11), thereby showing this section to be a further explanation in Judah’s own language of the verdict Yahweh has leveled against other gods.

The last verse of this section emphasizes that the universal King over the nations also has a special relationship with Judah. He is both the “portion of Jacob” as well as the “one who formed all things.” Similarly, the family language of Israel as the “tribe of [Yahweh’s] inheritance” (cf. Deut. 4:20) converges with a description of Yahweh’s creational power as the “Lord of hosts” (Jer. 10:16; cf. Gen. 2:1; Ps. 46:7). By contrast with the gods of the nations, who are thought to be involved only in either universal or particular dimensions of human affairs, Yahweh rules equally over both realms. Indeed, the difficulty of grasping these theological poles in such a cultural context is precisely what has made Yahweh’s people susceptible to idolatry.

10:17–18 The chapter shifts suddenly here in tone, speaker, message, audience, and setting. Preceding these verses was Judah’s proclamation to the nations of Yahweh’s uniqueness as Creator, while Yahweh now warns Jerusalem with a command to prepare for deportation. Though Babylon has not yet arrived (cf. Jer. 10:22), the inhabitants of the city are pictured as already under siege (v. 17) because of Yahweh’s determination that punishment can no longer be postponed for an obstinate people (v. 18).

The starkest of contrasts lies between “this time” and previous times, when repentance on the part of Judah was still possible. In the larger plot of Jeremiah 1–10, Judah’s initial refusal to return (e.g., 5:3; 8:4–6) and her halfhearted repentance (e.g., 3:1, 10) toward Yahweh’s summons (e.g., 3:14; 4:1) are now confirmed as inevitable—the path of repentance has been closed off to a recalcitrant people, who must learn the hard way in exile (10:18; cf. 4:28).

10:19–21 Too little and too late does Judah lament the suffering soon to come by the hand of Babylon. The portrayal of personified Jerusalem as a sufferer expressing woe (v. 19) with broken buildings and missing inhabitants (v. 20) has numerous similarities with the book of Lamentations. Notably missing, though, in Jerusalem’s present expression (“Woe is me because of my hurt”) is the contrition evidenced in her later confession (“Woe to us, for we have sinned!”; Lam. 5:16). In Jeremiah 10:19–20 there is instead a fixation on Jerusalem’s own pain without direct mention of her own sin or of Yahweh. Why is this so?

Pain of punishment can lead one to either repentance toward God or bitterness against him. The latter course appears to be what Jerusalem’s inhabitants choose in blaming their affliction on their leaders:

    The shepherds are stupid

    and do not inquire of the Lord;

    therefore they have not prospered,

    and all their flock is scattered. (v. 21)

“Shepherds” is a standard term for kings in the ancient Near East (cf. Jer. 3:15; 23:1–6; Ezekiel 34). The prophet Jeremiah has continually outlined the reality, however, that the common people of Judah are just as apostate as their leaders (e.g., Jer. 2:13, 31–32; 5:20–31).

10:22 The self-centered pain of the preceding verses reinforces the necessity of the exile to come. In this verse the rumbling arrival of Babylon’s war machine is noted by a third-party observer, perhaps Jeremiah himself (the speaker in vv. 23–25). What begins as “a voice, a rumor!” increases in volume to “a great commotion out of the north country” (v. 22). This invading army will leave Jerusalem emptied of inhabitants and fit only for scavengers (v. 22c–d; cf. 6:8; 9:10). Other passages in Jeremiah complete this picture of exile by describing Babylon’s invasion as the arrival of marauding armies that consume everything of value in Jerusalem (e.g., 5:14–17; 8:16).

10:23–25 The prophet Jeremiah, perhaps already the source of “a voice, a rumor” (v. 22), returns here with an understanding of exile that is quite different than his people’s. Compared to the bitter self-pity of Judah’s “I” voice (vv. 19–21), the prophet’s “I” voice in these verses expresses similar pain, but with the penitence his people lack. None of Judah’s narcissism is found in the confession that mankind’s own knowledge and paths are not to be trusted (v. 23); here the tone and themes echo those of Israel’s wisdom traditions (e.g., Job 42:1–6; Prov. 3:5–7; 30:2–3). Nor is there any challenge to divine justice in Jeremiah’s request to Yahweh: “Correct me, . . . but in justice; not in your anger, lest you bring me to nothing” (Jer. 10:24). The virtue of “justice” (Hb. mishpat) is exactly what Judah has perverted in the rich’s exploitation of the poor and in powerful figures’ failure to defend the weak (e.g., 5:28; 7:5–6; 22:3). The same covenantal term can also be rendered “judgment” (e.g., 1:16; 4:12) to denote the punishment Judah must suffer for its sins.

There is another face to divine justice/judgment, however, given that the agent of Yahweh’s righteous wrath is a nation more unrighteous than his own. The same prophet who asked for Yahweh’s justice to correct him (10:24) also requests that this same justice be directed against the “nations that know you not” (v. 25). In a chapter that has already confronted both Judah and the nations for the foolishness of idolatry (vv. 1–16), it is evident that Yahweh has commissioned his “prophet to the nations” (1:5) with no double standard when it comes to their sins and his judgment—both his own people and other peoples must come to acknowledge him as the one and only “King of the nations” (10:7).

This theological truth applies even to those ignorant nations who have been Yahweh’s instruments. Here again is the paradox raised by OT prophets regarding exile as a theological problem: Yahweh judges his own people by the hand of the nations while also judging those nations for the sins they commit while acting as his agents (cf. Isaiah 10). Divine sovereignty and human freedom each remains intact, so that Judah’s exile is both a punishment for the sinner as well as grounds for punishment for the unholy instruments who punish the sinner.