Jeremiah 16:20
New International Version
Do people make their own gods? Yes, but they are not gods!”

New Living Translation
Can people make their own gods? These are not real gods at all!”

English Standard Version
Can man make for himself gods? Such are not gods!”

Berean Standard Bible
Can man make gods for himself? Such are not gods!”

King James Bible
Shall a man make gods unto himself, and they are no gods?

New King James Version
Will a man make gods for himself, Which are not gods?

New American Standard Bible
Can a person make gods for himself? But they are not gods!

NASB 1995
Can man make gods for himself? Yet they are not gods!

NASB 1977
Can man make gods for himself? Yet they are not gods!

Legacy Standard Bible
Can man make gods for himself? Yet they are not gods!

Amplified Bible
“Can a man make gods for himself? Such [things] are not gods!

Christian Standard Bible
Can one make gods for himself? But they are not gods.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Can one make gods for himself? But they are not gods.

American Standard Version
Shall a man make unto himself gods, which yet are no gods?

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
Behold, the children of men made gods for themselves, and those are not gods

Brenton Septuagint Translation
Will a man make gods for himself, whereas these are no gods?

Contemporary English Version
worthless idols made by human hands."

Douay-Rheims Bible
Shall a man make gods unto himself, and there are no gods?

English Revised Version
Shall a man make unto himself gods, which yet are no gods?

GOD'S WORD® Translation
"People can't make gods for themselves. They aren't really gods.

Good News Translation
Can people make their own gods? No, if they did, those would not really be gods."

International Standard Version
Can a person make a god for himself? They are not gods!

JPS Tanakh 1917
Shall a man make unto himself gods, And they are no gods?

Literal Standard Version
Does man make gods for himself, | And they—no gods?

Majority Standard Bible
Can man make gods for himself? Such are not gods!”

New American Bible
Can human beings make for themselves gods? But these are not gods at all!

NET Bible
Can people make their own gods? No, what they make are not gods at all."

New Revised Standard Version
Can mortals make for themselves gods? Such are no gods!

New Heart English Bible
Shall a man make to himself gods, which yet are no gods?'"

Webster's Bible Translation
Shall a man make gods to himself, and they are no gods?

World English Bible
Should a man make to himself gods which yet are no gods?”

Young's Literal Translation
Doth man make for himself gods, And they -- no gods?

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
God will Restore Israel
19O LORD, my strength and my fortress, my refuge in the day of distress, the nations will come to You from the ends of the earth, and they will say, “Our fathers inherited nothing but lies, worthless idols of no benefit at all. 20Can man make gods for himself? Such are not gods!” 21“Therefore behold, I will inform them, and this time I will make them know My power and My might; then they will know that My name is the LORD.…

Cross References
Galatians 4:8
Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods.

Psalm 115:4
Their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men.

Isaiah 37:19
They have cast their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods, but only wood and stone--the work of human hands.

Jeremiah 2:11
Has a nation ever changed its gods, though they are no gods at all? Yet My people have exchanged their Glory for useless idols.

Jeremiah 5:7
"Why should I forgive you? Your children have forsaken Me and sworn by gods that are not gods. I satisfied their needs, yet they committed adultery and assembled at the houses of prostitutes.

Daniel 3:1
King Nebuchadnezzar made a golden statue sixty cubits high and six cubits wide, and he set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon.

Hosea 8:4
They set up kings, but not by Me. They make princes, but without My approval. With their silver and gold they make themselves idols, to their own destruction.


Treasury of Scripture

Shall a man make gods to himself, and they are no gods?

Psalm 115:4-8
Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands…

Psalm 135:14-18
For the LORD will judge his people, and he will repent himself concerning his servants…

Isaiah 36:19
Where are the gods of Hamath and Arphad? where are the gods of Sepharvaim? and have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?

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Jeremiah 16
1. The prophet, under the types of abstaining from marriage,
8. from houses of mourning and feasting, foreshows the utter ruin of the Jews;
10. because they were worse than their fathers.
14. Their return from captivity shall be stranger than their deliverance out of Egypt.
16. God will doubly recompense their idolatry.














Verse 20. - But the Jews of this generation, in spite of the manifold proofs of the true religion which have been vouchsafed to them, are deserting the real divinity for the unreal. In a tone of surprise the prophet exclaims, Shall a man make gods unto himself, etc.?

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
Can man
אָדָ֖ם (’ā·ḏām)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 120: Ruddy, a human being

make
הֲיַעֲשֶׂה־ (hă·ya·‘ă·śeh-)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 6213: To do, make

gods for himself?
אֱלֹהִ֑ים (’ĕ·lō·hîm)
Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 430: gods -- the supreme God, magistrates, a superlative

Such
וְהֵ֖מָּה (wə·hêm·māh)
Conjunctive waw | Pronoun - third person masculine plural
Strong's 1992: They

are not
לֹ֥א (lō)
Adverb - Negative particle
Strong's 3808: Not, no

gods!
אֱלֹהִֽים׃ (’ĕ·lō·hîm)
Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 430: gods -- the supreme God, magistrates, a superlative


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OT Prophets: Jeremiah 16:20 Shall a man make to himself gods (Jer.)
Jeremiah 16:19
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