---
title: Jeremiah 10:5
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/jeremiah-10-5/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/jeremiah-10-5.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Jeremiah 10:5
testament: OT
section: Prophets
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Jeremiah 10:5

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> Like scarecrows in a cucumber patch, their idols cannot speak. They must be carried because they cannot walk. Do not fear them, for they can do no harm, and neither can they do any good.”

## NWT Wording of the Key Phrase

- NWT (2013 revision): "Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field, they cannot speak; they have to be carried, for they cannot walk. Do not fear them, for they can do no harm, nor can they do any good."

## JW Usage

Largely passed over in Watchtower teaching when Jeremiah 10:3-4 is being cited as the Christmas-tree text. The reason is structural: verse 5 describes the object as a "scarecrow in a cucumber field" with feet that cannot walk and a mouth that cannot speak — features no Christmas tree has — and so the verse is left unread, while the previous two verses are pressed into service.

## Protestant Usage

Verse 5 is the decisive verse against the Christmas-tree reading. The object Jeremiah is mocking has feet (that cannot walk), a mouth (that cannot speak), is carried in procession, and is called a scarecrow — a human-shaped effigy. Pair it with Isaiah 44:9-20 for the fuller Babylonian-cult-statue picture. Then read Romans 14:5-6 in the JW's own NWT and let Paul rule on festival liberty in their own translation: "the one who observes the day observes it to Jehovah." If Paul permits the observance, the Watchtower cannot forbid it on the strength of a passage that is not even about the topic.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [Holidays Are Not Pagan — Read Jeremiah 10 to Verse 5](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/holidays-pagan-origin-engagement.md) — Romans 14:5-6 / Colossians 2:16-17 / Jeremiah 10:5 [Practice]