Customs here refers to the religious practices of the people, which is the basis for Good News Translation “the religion of these people is worthless.” Translators could also say something like “the way those people worship God [or, their gods] is worthless.”

False is translated “worthlessness” in 2.5; see also “worthless” in 10.15 (Revised Standard Version).

In what follows (verses 3b-5) Jeremiah provides a more detailed explanation of what he means by the first line. It is a description of how people make an idol to worship; but in the Hebrew and most English versions, this is not made clear until verse 5. In some languages this section will be much easier to understand if the key information is given at the beginning of the description; for example, “They cut down a tree and carve an idol” (New Living Translation).

A tree from the forest is cut down may need to be transformed into an active construction: “People go into the forest and cut a tree down.”

Worked with an axe by the hands of a craftsman: This may also need to be restructured; for example, “a woodworker uses his tools to carve it.” The actual word for axe in the Hebrew refers more accurately to an “adze,” a tool that resembles an axe, but has a curved blade fixed at a right angle so that it can be used for smoothing wood.

One of the most common words for “idol” in Jeremiah has the root meaning of “to hew into shape,” thereby referring to something made by people, normally from wood (see 10.14; 50.38; 51.17, 47, 52, where Revised Standard Version has either “idols” or “images”).

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Jeremiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2003. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .