her foul things. As
elsewhere in biblical usage, gilulim is a deliberately insulting epithet
for “idols” that invokes gelalim, “turds.” (Robert Alter, The Hebrew
Bible, 3 vols. [New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2019], 2:1024)
Images … idols: Both terms refer to the same objects. The second is
a somewhat indelicate word, meaning literally “a ball of excrement,” a term
frequently applied to foreign gods (in Ezekiel almost 40 times). This is the
basis for njb “her Obscenities” and tev “her disgusting images.” (Barclay
M. Newman Jr. and Philip C. Stine, A
Handbook on Jeremiah [UBS Handbook Series; New York: United Bible
Societies, 2003], 931)
The two nouns עֲצַבִּים
and גִּלּוּלִים, in the secondary addition at the end of
the verse, occur only here in Jer. The first, עָצָב,
is a general word for “idol”; the related verb עצב
means “shape” (Job 10:8). The parallel גִּלּוּל (here “godlet”), a
favorite word in Ezekiel, evidently suggests “dung-pellet” (גָּלָל,
Zeph 1:17). Both words carry a tone of contempt. (William Lee
Holladay, Jeremiah 2: A Commentary on the
Book of the Prophet Jeremiah, Chapters 26–52.[Hermeneia—a Critical and
Historical Commentary on the Bible; Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1989], 415)
