The Meaning of Jeremiah 16:20 Explained

Jeremiah 16:20

KJV: Shall a man make gods unto himself, and they are no gods?

YLT: Doth man make for himself gods, And they -- no gods?

Darby: Shall a man make gods unto himself, and they are no-gods?

ASV: Shall a man make unto himself gods, which yet are no gods?

KJV Reverse Interlinear

Shall a man  make  gods  unto himself, and they [are] no gods? 

What does Jeremiah 16:20 Mean?

Verse Meaning

Rhetorically the prophet asked if humans can make gods for themselves. They can, but what they make are not really gods, because there is only one God.

Chapter Summary: 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

What do the individual words in Jeremiah 16:20 mean?

Will make for himself a man gods and they [are] not gods
הֲיַעֲשֶׂה־ לּ֥וֹ אָדָ֖ם אֱלֹהִ֑ים וְהֵ֖מָּה לֹ֥א ؟ אֱלֹהִֽים

הֲיַעֲשֶׂה־  Will  make 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperfect, third person masculine singular
Root: עָשָׂה 
Sense: to do, fashion, accomplish, make.
לּ֥וֹ  for  himself 
Parse: Preposition, third person masculine singular
אָדָ֖ם  a  man 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: אָדָם 
Sense: man, mankind.
אֱלֹהִ֑ים  gods 
Parse: Noun, masculine plural
Root: אֱלֹהִים  
Sense: (plural).
וְהֵ֖מָּה  and  they  [are] 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Pronoun, third person masculine plural
Root: הֵם 
Sense: they, these, the same, who.
؟ אֱלֹהִֽים  gods 
Parse: Noun, masculine plural
Root: אֱלֹהִים  
Sense: (plural).