Lexicon :: Strong's H3276 - yāʿal

“Should he rebuke and argue with useless talk?

Or with words in which there is no benefit?

‘Who [and what] is [fn]the Almighty, that we should serve Him?

And what would we gain if we plead with Him?’

“They break up and clutter my path [upsetting my plans],

They profit from my destruction;

No one restrains them.

“For you say, ‘What advantage have you [by living a righteous life]?

What profit will I have, more [by being righteous] than if I had sinned?’

Treasures of wickedness and ill-gotten gains do not profit,

But righteousness and moral integrity in daily life rescues from death.

Riches will not provide security in the day of wrath and judgment,

But righteousness rescues from death.

“All will be ashamed because of a people (the Egyptians) who cannot benefit them,

Who are not a help or benefit, but a shame and also a disgrace.”

All who make carved idols are nothing. Their precious objects are worthless [to them], and their own witnesses (worshipers) fail to see or know, so that they will be put to shame.

“Persist, then, [Babylon] in your enchantments

And your many sorceries

With which you have labored from your youth;

Perhaps you will be able to profit [from them],

Perhaps you may prevail and cause trembling.

This is what the LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel says,

“I am the LORD your God, who teaches you to profit (benefit),

Who leads you in the way that you should go.

“I will declare your [hypocritical] righteousness and your deeds,

But they will not benefit you.

“[Even] the priests did not say, ‘Where is the LORD?’

And those who deal with the law [given to Moses] did not know Me.

The rulers and shepherds also transgressed against Me,

And the prophets prophesied by [the authority and in the name of] Baal

And walked after [idolatrous] things that did not benefit [them].

“Has a nation [ever] changed gods

Even though they were not gods [but merely man-made objects]?

But My people have exchanged their Glory (the true God)

For that [man-made idol] which does not benefit [them].

“Behold, you are trusting in deceptive and useless words that bring no benefit.

“They have planted wheat but have reaped thorns;

They have exhausted themselves but without profit.

So be ashamed of your harvest

Because of the fierce and raging anger of the LORD.”

[Then said Jeremiah] “O LORD, my Strength and my Stronghold,

And my Refuge in the day of distress and need,

The nations will come to You

From the ends of the earth and say,

‘Our fathers have inherited nothing but lies and illusion,

[Worthless] things in which there is no benefit!’

“What profit is the carved image when its maker has formed it?

It is only a cast image, and a teacher of lies.

For its maker trusts in his own creation [as his god]

When he makes speechless idols.