“Thus shall ye say unto them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens.”
My Notes
What Does Jeremiah 10:11 Mean?
Jeremiah gives Israel a script — and the script is the only verse in the book written in Aramaic rather than Hebrew. "Thus shall ye say unto them" — God provides the exact words. Israel doesn't have to compose a theological argument. God writes the speech. And the speech is in Aramaic — the international language of the ancient Near East — so the pagan nations can understand it.
"The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth" — the disqualification is simple: they didn't make anything. The test of a true god is creative power. Did your god make the heavens? Did your god make the earth? No? Then your god isn't a god. The creative act is the dividing line between deity and pretender.
"Even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens" — the gods that didn't make the heavens and earth will be removed from the heavens and earth. The uncreating gods are uncreated from the creation they had no part in building. They'll perish (yevadu — be lost, be destroyed, cease to exist) from the very earth they didn't make and from under the very heavens they didn't stretch.
The irony is precise: the gods who didn't create will be de-created. The pretenders who claimed residence in a universe they didn't build will be evicted from it. The heavens and earth that the true God made (v. 12) will remain. The false gods that made nothing will be removed from everything.
The verse is a one-sentence apologetic: the only God worth worshipping is the God who made the world you're standing in. Every other god is a squatter — and squatters get evicted.
Reflection Questions
- 1.The test of a true God is creation. Does whatever you functionally worship pass the test — did it make the world you live in?
- 2.False gods 'perish from the earth.' What gods in our culture seem powerful now but are actually temporary?
- 3.God gave Israel a script in Aramaic — the world's language. How do you communicate the truth about God in language the people around you can understand?
- 4.The gods that made nothing are removed from everything. How does the permanence of creation versus the impermanence of idols shape your worship?
Devotional
The gods that didn't make anything will be removed from everything. That's the script God gave Israel to deliver to the nations.
One verse. In Aramaic, so the pagan nations could understand it. And the message is the simplest theological test in Scripture: did your god make the heavens and the earth? If not, your god is temporary. The universe will outlast it. The creation will remain after the false gods have perished from it.
"The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth." The test is creative power. The true God made — bara, asah, yatsar — everything. The heavens, the earth, the seas, the stars, the animals, the humans. The false gods made nothing. They were made — by human hands (v. 3), from human materials, by human imagination. The test of divinity is creation. And every god that fails the creation test fails the deity test.
"They shall perish from the earth." The false gods are evicted from the very creation they didn't contribute to. The earth that the true God made has no permanent room for pretenders. The heavens that the true God stretched out have no lasting place for imposters. The perishing is poetic justice: you didn't make this place, so you don't get to stay.
The verse is God's provided script — the words He wants His people to speak to the nations. And the script is simple enough for a child to deliver: the God who made everything is the real God. The gods who made nothing are going away. Choose accordingly.
Whatever you worship — whatever commands your ultimate allegiance, your deepest trust, your most serious devotion — ask the creation question. Did it make the heavens and the earth? If not, it's a squatter in a universe it didn't build. And squatters don't last.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
Thus shall ye say unto them,.... The godly Jews to the idolatrous Chaldeans; and therefore this verse alone is written…
This verse is (in the original) in Chaldee. It was probably a proverbial saying, which Jeremiah inserts in its popular…
The prophet Isaiah, when he prophesied of the captivity in Babylon, added warnings against idolatry and largely exposed…
The v. is not Hebrew, but Aramaic. Either it is a marginal note, subsequently introduced into the text, where it…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture