Jeremiah 10:1-25

1-16. The folly of idolatry.

This section of the prophecy is of doubtful authorship. For (a) it introduces a break in the sense; (b) there is less smoothness between the parts than we generally find in Jeremiah's writings; (c) its language differs considerably from his use elsewhere, and closely resembles that of Isaiah 40-44; (d) the writer emphasises the fact that false gods are incapable of hurting, while Jeremiah elsewhere speaks rather of them as powerless to aid; (e) Isaiah 44:2; Isaiah 44:4 read as though addressed to men who were contemplating the idolatry around them, rather than guilty of it themselves. For these reasons it is held by some to be a discourse addressed by an unknown author during the captivity to the exiles at Babylon: cp. the spurious letter ascribed to Jeremiah, which forms Jeremiah 6 of the (apocryphal) book of Baruch.

It should, however, be said, on the other hand, that the Septuagint version of this book, though omitting much that is found in the Hebrew (see Intro.), yet contains this chapter.