Jeremiah 10
1 Hear the word that the LORD speaks to you, O house of Israel.
Hear ye the word which Jehovah speaketh to you, O house of Israel!
2 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.
Thus saith Jehovah: Conform ye not to the way of the heathen, And be not dismayed at the signs of the heavens, Because the heathen are dismayed at them!
3 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.
The customs of the nations are vanity. For a tree of the wood is cut down, It is wrought by the hands of the artificer with the axe,
4 They adorn it with silver and gold and fasten it with hammer and nails, so that it will not totter.
It is decked with silver and gold, And with nails and with hammers is it fastened, That it may not totter.
5 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.”
They are like a turned palm-tree pillar, and cannot speak; They must be borne by men, for they cannot walk. Be not afraid of them, for they cannot hurt, Nor is it in their power to do good.
6 There is none like You, O LORD. You are great, and Your name is mighty in power.
There is none like thee, O Jehovah! Thou art great, And great is thy name by mighty deeds.
7 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.
Who shall not fear thee, O king of nations, For to thee doth it belong! For among all the wise men of the nations, And in all their kingdoms, there is none like thee.
8 But they are altogether senseless and foolish, instructed by worthless idols made of wood!
They are all brutish and without understanding; A doctrine of vanities is the stock.
9 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.
Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish, And gold from Uphaz, The work of the artificer and the founder; Blue and purple is their clothing; The work of the skilful is it all.
10 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.
But Jehovah is the true God, He is the living God, and an everlasting king; At his wrath the earth trembleth, And the nations are not able to abide his indignation.
11 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.”
[[Thus shall ye say to them: The gods, that have not made the heavens and the earth, Shall perish from the earth and from under these heavens.]]
12 The LORD made the earth by His power; He established the world by His wisdom and stretched out the heavens by His understanding.
He made the earth by his power; He established the world by his wisdom, And by his understanding he spread out the heavens.
13 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.
When he uttereth his voice there is an abundance of water in the heavens; He causeth clouds to ascend from the ends of the earth; He maketh lightnings with rain; He bringeth the wind from his storehouses.
14 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.
Brutish is every one who hath not this knowledge; By his image is every founder put to shame, For his molten-work is deceit; There is no breath in it.
15 They are worthless, a work to be mocked. In the time of their punishment they will perish.
They are vanity, deceptive work; In the time of their punishment shall they perish.
16 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.
Not like them is He who is the portion of Jacob; He is the former of all things, And Israel is his allotted inheritance; Jehovah of hosts is his name.
17 Gather up your belongings from this land, you who live under siege.
Gather up thy goods out of the land, O inhabitant of the fortress!
18 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.”
For thus saith Jehovah: Behold, I will sling forth the inhabitants of the land at this time; I will distress them, so that they shall be taken.
19 Woe to me because of my brokenness; my wound is grievous! But I said, “This is truly my sickness, and I must bear it.”
“Ah me! my wound!” [[saith the daughter of Zion; ]] “My bruise is deadly; Yet I say, This is my affliction, and I must bear it!
20 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.
My tent is torn down, And all my cords broken. My children are gone forth from me, and are no more; There is none to stretch forth my tent any more, Or to set up my curtains.
21 For the shepherds have become senseless; they do not seek the LORD. Therefore they have not prospered, and all their flock is scattered.
For the shepherds have become brutish; They have not sought Jehovah; Therefore have they not prospered, And all their flock is dispersed.”
22 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.
[[Hark!]] the sound of tiding! Behold it cometh, And a great tumult from the land of the North, To make the cities of Judah desolate, A dwelling-place for jackals.
23 I know, O LORD, that a man’s way is not his own; no one who walks directs his own steps.
“I know, O Jehovah, that the way of a man is not within his power, That it is not within the power of a man that walketh to establish his steps.
24 Correct me, O LORD, but only with justice— not in Your anger, or You will bring me to nothing.
Chasten me, O Jehovah, but in measure; Not in thine anger, lest thou bring me to nothing!
25 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.
Pour out thy wrath on the nations which acknowledge thee not, And on the kingdoms which call not on thy name! For they have devoured Jacob; They have devoured and consumed him, And laid waste his dwelling-place.”
