Jeremias 10
1 Hear you the word of the Lord, which he has spoken to you, O house of Israel.
Hear the word that the LORD speaks to you, O house of Israel.
2 Thus says the Lord, Learn you not the ways of the heathen, and be not alarmed at the signs of the sky; for they are alarmed at them, [falling] on their faces.
This is what the LORD says: “Do not learn the ways of the nations or be terrified by the signs in the heavens, though the nations themselves are terrified by them.
3 For the customs of the nations are vain; it is a tree cut out of the forest, the work of the carpenter, or a molten image.
For the customs of the peoples are worthless; they cut down a tree from the forest; it is shaped with a chisel by the hands of a craftsman.
4 [They are] beautified with silver and gold, they fix them with hammers and nails;
They adorn it with silver and gold and fasten it with hammer and nails, so that it will not totter.
5 they will set them up that they may not move; it is wrought silver, they will not walk, it is forged silver They must certainly be borne, for they can’t ride [of themselves]. Fear them not; for they can’t do any evil, and there is no good in them.
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.”
There is none like You, O LORD. You are great, and Your name is mighty in power.
Who would not fear You, O King of nations? This is Your due. For among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like You.
But they are altogether senseless and foolish, instructed by worthless idols made of wood!
Hammered silver is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz— the work of a craftsman from the hands of a goldsmith. Their clothes are blue and purple, all fashioned by skilled workers.
But the LORD is the true God; He is the living God and eternal King. The earth quakes at His wrath, and the nations cannot endure His indignation.
11 Thus shall you say to them, Let the gods which have not made heaven and earth perish from off the earth, and from under this sky.
Thus you are to tell them: “These gods, who have made neither the heavens nor the earth, will perish from this earth and from under these heavens.”
12 It is the Lord that made the earth by his strength, who set up the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding stretched out the sky,
The LORD made the earth by His power; He established the world by His wisdom and stretched out the heavens by His understanding.
13 and set abundance of waters in the sky, and brought up clouds from the ends of the earth; he made lightnings for the rain, and brought forth light out of his treasures.
When He thunders, the waters in the heavens roar; He causes the clouds to rise from the ends of the earth. He generates the lightning with the rain and brings forth the wind from His storehouses.
14 Every man is deprived of knowledge, every goldsmith is confounded because of his graven images; for he has cast false gods, there is no breath in them.
Every man is senseless and devoid of knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols. For his molten images are a fraud, and there is no breath in them.
15 They are vain works, wrought in mockery; in the time of their visitation they shall perish.
They are worthless, a work to be mocked. In the time of their punishment they will perish.
16 Such is not the portion of Jacob; for he that formed all things, he is his inheritance; the Lord is his name.
The Portion of Jacob is not like these, for He is the Maker of all things, and Israel is the tribe of His inheritance— the LORD of Hosts is His name.
17 He has gathered your substance from without the lodged in choice [vessels].
Gather up your belongings from this land, you who live under siege.
18 For thus says the Lord, Behold, I [will] overthrow the inhabitants of this land with affliction, that your plague may be discovered.
For this is what the LORD says: “Behold, at this time I will sling out the inhabitants of the land and bring distress upon them so that they may be captured.”
19 Alas for your ruin! your plague is grievous: and I said, Surely this is your wound, and it has overtaken you.
Woe to me because of my brokenness; my wound is grievous! But I said, “This is truly my sickness, and I must bear it.”
20 Your tabernacle is in a ruinous state, it has perished; and all your curtains have been torn asunder: my children and my cattle are no more: there is no more any place for my tabernacle, [nor] place for my curtains.
My tent is destroyed, and all its ropes are snapped. My sons have departed from me and are no more. I have no one left to pitch my tent or set up my curtains.
21 For the shepherds have become foolish, and have not sought the Lord; therefore the whole pasture has failed, and [the sheep] have been scattered.
For the shepherds have become senseless; they do not seek the LORD. Therefore they have not prospered, and all their flock is scattered.
22 Behold, there comes a sound of a noise, and a great earthquake from the land of the north, to make the cities of Juda a desolation, and a resting-place for ostriches.
Listen! The sound of a report is coming— a great commotion from the land to the north. The cities of Judah will be made a desolation, a haunt for jackals.
23 I know, O Lord, that man's way is not his own; neither shall a man go, and direct his going.
I know, O LORD, that a man’s way is not his own; no one who walks directs his own steps.
24 Chasten us, O Lord, but with judgment; and not in wrath, lest you make us few.
Correct me, O LORD, but only with justice— not in Your anger, or You will bring me to nothing.
25 Pour out your wrath upon the nations that have not known you, and upon the families that have not called upon your name: for they have devoured Jacob, and consumed him, and have made his pasture desolate.
Pour out Your wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge You, and on the families that do not call on Your name. For they have devoured Jacob; they have consumed him and finished him off; they have devastated his homeland.
