Jeremiah 10:10
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But the LORD is the true God; He is the living God and eternal King. The earth quakes at His wrath, and the nations cannot endure His indignation.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
We may conjecture that the prophecy of this chapter was delivered after the first captivity, in the time of Jeconiah or Jehoiachin, when many were carried away to Babylon; for it has a double reference: - I. To those that were carried away into the land of the Chaldeans, a country notorious above any other for idolatry and superstition; and they are here cautioned against the infection of the place, not to learn the way of the heathen (Jer 10:1, Jer 10:2), for their astrology and idolatry are both foolish things (Jer 10:3-5), and the worshippers of idols brutish (Jer 10:8, Jer 10:9). So it will appear in the day of their visitation (Jer 10:14, Jer 10:15). They are likewise exhorted to adhere firmly to the God of Israel, for there is none like him (Jer 10:6, Jer 10:7). He is the true God, lives for ever, and has the government of the world (Jer 10:10-13), and his people are happy in him (Jer 10:16). II. To those that yet remained in their own land. They are cautioned against security, and told to expect distress (Jer 10:17, Jer 10:18) and that by a foreign enemy, which God would bring upon them for their sin (Jer 10:20-22). This calamity the prophet laments (Jer 10:19) and prays for the mitigation of it (Jer 10:23-25).
Open source ↗10:10 Pagan deities are neither alive nor permanent. They can easily be destroyed or put in museums. Mythical stories about idols showed them engaging in all sorts of immoral conduct because the people who invented them wanted to justify their own immorality. The true God is holy and just and abhors immoral behavior.
Open source ↗Cross-references
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He is the Rock, His work is perfect; all His ways are just. A God of faithfulness without injustice, righteous and upright is He.
For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in a high and holy place, and with the oppressed and humble in spirit, to restore the spirit of the lowly and revive the heart of the contrite.
You alone are to be feared. When You are angry, who can stand before You?
Who can withstand His indignation? Who can endure His burning anger? His wrath is poured out like fire; even rocks are shattered before Him.
He looks on the earth, and it trembles; He touches the mountains, and they smolder.
Then the earth shook and quaked, and the foundations of the mountains trembled; they were shaken because He burned with anger.
Into Your hands I commit my spirit; You have redeemed me, O LORD, God of truth.
My soul thirsts for God, the living God. When shall I come and appear in God’s presence?
He shakes the earth from its place, so that its foundations tremble.
David asked the men who were standing with him, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Just who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?”