They are vanity, the work of errors: in the time of their visitation they shall perish.
Parallel translations
- WEB They are vanity, a work of delusion. In the time of their visitation, they will perish.
- BSB They are worthless, a work to be mocked. In the time of their punishment they will perish.
- NKJV They are futile, a work of errors; In the time of their punishment they shall perish.
- NASB They are worthless, a work of mockery; At the time of their punishment they will perish.
- NLT Idols are worthless; they are ridiculous lies! On the day of reckoning they will all be destroyed.
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
Idols are vanity and a work of delusion that will perish when God visits in judgment. False gods cannot survive the day of reckoning.
Overview
The idols Babylon trusted are 'a work of delusion,' worthless and self-deceiving, and their 'visitation' (day of judgment) will sweep them away. Whatever cannot stand before God's judgment is no refuge at all. The verse presses the choice between perishing idols and the eternal God, whose salvation in Christ alone endures the day of visitation.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Exod 12:12For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD.
- Jer 46:25The LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saith; Behold, I will punish the multitude of No, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with their gods, and their kings; even Pharaoh, and all them that trust in him:
- Jer 43:12–13And I will kindle a fire in the houses of the gods of Egypt; and he shall burn them, and carry them away captives: and he shall array himself with the land of Egypt, as a shepherd putteth on his garment; and he shall go forth from thence in peace.
- Jer 48:7For because thou hast trusted in thy works and in thy treasures, thou shalt also be taken: and Chemosh shall go forth into captivity with his priests and his princes together.
- Jer 10:8But they are altogether brutish and foolish: the stock is a doctrine of vanities.
- Jer 10:15They are vanity, and the work of errors: in the time of their visitation they shall perish.
- Jer 50:2Declare ye among the nations, and publish, and set up a standard; publish, and conceal not: say, Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken in pieces; her idols are confounded, her images are broken in pieces.
- Jer 18:15Because my people hath forgotten me, they have burned incense to vanity, and they have caused them to stumble in their ways from the ancient paths, to walk in paths, in a way not cast up;
- Isa 19:1The burden of Egypt. Behold, the LORD rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it.
- Isa 46:1Bel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth, their idols were upon the beasts, and upon the cattle: your carriages were heavy loaden; they are a burden to the weary beast.
- Jonah 2:8They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.
- Zeph 2:11The LORD will be terrible unto them: for he will famish all the gods of the earth; and men shall worship him, every one from his place, even all the isles of the heathen.
- Acts 14:15And saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein:
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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 51:18 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.