Hebrew word · H8595

תֵּעְתֻּעִים

ta'tu'im

delusion

A plural noun with a doubled sound (taʿ-tuʿ), from a root meaning 'to mock, make a fool of, trick.' Lexicons (BDB, HALOT) give 'mockery, derision,' and some add 'deception.' The plural is likely an intensive abstract: 'utter mockery.'

Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) errors, delusions

2) (BDB) mockery

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Jeremiah 10:15

Range of meaning

A plural noun with a doubled sound (taʿ-tuʿ), from a root meaning 'to mock, make a fool of, trick.' Lexicons (BDB, HALOT) give 'mockery, derision,' and some add 'deception.' The plural is likely an intensive abstract: 'utter mockery.'

Against the English

BSB 'a work to be mocked' and NIV 'the objects of mockery' take it passively: people will laugh at the idols. ESV/WEB 'a work of delusion' and KJV 'the work of errors' take it actively: the idols mislead people. NASB 'a work of mockery' leaves it open. YLT 'work of erring ones' reads it as the people who go wrong.

Used elsewhere in the period

Only here and Jer 51:18. The root appears in Gen 27:12, where Jacob fears he will seem to Isaac 'like a mocker/trickster' (kimtaʿtēaʿ) if found out in his disguise; deceiving and mocking go together. In 2 Chr 36:16 Judah 'kept mocking (mitʿattʿîm) God's messengers.' The Greek translation has erga empepaigmena, 'works mocked at / made sport of.' The Vulgate takes it as something 'worthy of laughter.'

Where it appears

Jeremiah · 2

  1. Jeremiah 10:15 תַּעְתֻּעִ֑ים mockery

    They are worthless, a work to be mocked. In the time of their punishment they will perish.

    Here: A rare word with a doubled sound, found only here and in the twin verse Jer 51:18. Its root covers both mocking someone and tricking them. So the idols are a 'work of mockery': laughable objects, and also a cheat that makes fools of the people who trust them.

  2. Jeremiah 51:18 תַּעְתֻּעִ֑ים mockery

    They are worthless, a work to be mocked. In the time of their punishment they will perish.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.