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For the customs of the peoples are vanity; for one cuts a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman with the ax.
Verse Takeaways
1
More Than Just 'Customs'
Commentators clarify that the Hebrew word for "customs" is better translated as "statutes" or "religious ordinances." Jeremiah is not critiquing everyday habits but the foundational religious systems of pagan nations. He declares their core beliefs and worship practices to be utterly worthless and empty.
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Book Overview
Jeremiah
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7
18th Century
Presbyterian
The customs—A better rendering, as the marginal note indicates, is “the ordinances,” established institutions, “of the peoples,” that is, pa…
19th Century
Anglican
The customs of the people. —Better, ordinances of the peoples.
The prophet is speaking, not of common customs, but…
Baptist
Those ancient prophets seemed to take delight in heaping scorn upon the god-making of the heathen. Even the heathen poets mocked the god-making; on…
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16th Century
Protestant
The Prophet seems to break off from his subject and even to reason inconclusively; for he had said in the last verse, Learn not the rites of th…
17th Century
Reformed Baptist
For the customs of the people are vain Or, "their decrees", or "statutes" F15 , their determinations and concl…
The prophet shows the glory of Israel's God, and exposes the foolishness of idolaters. Charms and other attempts to obtain supernatural help, or to…
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13th Century
Catholic
Here, he shows the dignity of the people, so that from this their guilt might appear more serious and their punishment more just.
It is divi…
