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.
Parallel translations
- WEB Every man has become brutish and without knowledge; every goldsmith is disappointed by his engraved image; for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.
- BSB 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.
- NKJV Everyone is dull-hearted, without knowledge; Every metalsmith is put to shame by an image; For his molded image is falsehood, And there is no breath in them.
- NASB Every person is stupid, devoid of knowledge; Every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols, For his cast metal images are deceitful, And there is no breath in them.
- NLT The whole human race is foolish and has no knowledge! The craftsmen are disgraced by the idols they make, for their carefully shaped works are a fraud. These idols have no breath or power.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Every idol-maker is exposed as senseless, for his molten image is a lie with no breath in it. The craftsman is shamed by the lifeless thing he made.
Overview
In contrast to the living, creating God, every person who trusts idols is shown to be without knowledge, and the goldsmith is put to shame by his breathless image. The molten god is sheer falsehood. The verse seals the chapter's argument that idols are lifeless deceptions, directing worship instead to the God who is Himself the breath of life.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Ps 135:16–18They have mouths, but they speak not; eyes have they, but they see not;
- Ps 115:4–8Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands.
- Isa 46:7–8They bear him upon the shoulder, they carry him, and set him in his place, and he standeth; from his place shall he not remove: yea, one shall cry unto him, yet can he not answer, nor save him out of his trouble.
- Hab 2:18–19What profiteth the graven image that the maker thereof hath graven it; the molten image, and a teacher of lies, that the maker of his work trusteth therein, to make dumb idols?
- Isa 44:18–20They have not known nor understood: for he hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand.
- Rom 1:22–23Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
- Jer 51:17–18Every man is brutish by his knowledge; every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.
- Jer 10:8But they are altogether brutish and foolish: the stock is a doctrine of vanities.
- Isa 42:17They shall be turned back, they shall be greatly ashamed, that trust in graven images, that say to the molten images, Ye are our gods.
- Isa 45:16They shall be ashamed, and also confounded, all of them: they shall go to confusion together that are makers of idols.
- Ps 97:7Confounded be all they that serve graven images, that boast themselves of idols: worship him, all ye gods.
- Isa 44:11Behold, all his fellows shall be ashamed: and the workmen, they are of men: let them all be gathered together, let them stand up; yet they shall fear, and they shall be ashamed together.
- Ps 14:2The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God.
- Ps 92:6A brutish man knoweth not; neither doth a fool understand this.
- Ps 94:8Understand, ye brutish among the people: and ye fools, when will ye be wise?
- Prov 30:2Surely I am more brutish than any man, and have not the understanding of a man.
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Against the failure of false shepherds Jeremiah promises the Righteous Branch, 'The LORD our righteousness,' and the new covenant written on the heart and sealed in the blood of Christ.
How Jeremiah 10:14 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.