Translations
F.O.G.MPrimary
F.O.G MessageBut My people have forgotten Me — they burn incense to worthless idols. They have stumbled off the ancient paths, straying onto roads that have never been built up.'
F.O.GSecondary
The F.O.GYet My people have forgotten Me — they burn incense to empty nothings. They have stumbled in their ways, off the ancient paths, onto tracks that are not prepared.'
KJV
King James VersionBecause my people hath forgotten me, they have burned incense to vanity, and they have caused them to stumble in their ways from the ancient paths, to walk in paths, in a way not cast up;
BSB
Berean Standard BibleYet My people have forgotten Me. They burn incense to worthless idols that make them stumble in their ways, leaving the ancient roads to walk on rutted bypaths instead of on the highway.
Footnotes
The phrase *shvilei olam* — 'the ancient paths' — echoes Jeremiah 6:16, where YHWH calls Israel to stand at the crossroads and ask for those very paths. The concept is not nostalgia but the well-worn covenant way established at Sinai: Torah, hesed, and the fear of YHWH. The contrast with 'roads not prepared' (*lo selulah*) — unbuilt, unlevelled tracks — images spiritual life without covenant structure as not merely difficult but directionless. The idols are called *shav'* — 'empty nothings/vanity' — the same word deployed in the third commandment for taking YHWH's name in vain: idolatry and profanity share a root in emptiness.
