Jeremiah 10

1 Hear the word that the LORD speaks to you, O house of Israel.

Hear ye the word, O house of Israel, That Jehovah hath spoken for you.

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 said Jehovah: Unto the way of the nations accustom not yourselves, And by the signs of the heavens be not affrighted, For the nations are affrighted by 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.

For the statutes of the peoples are vanity, For a tree from a forest hath one cut, Work of the hands of an artificer, with an axe,

4 They adorn it with silver and gold and fasten it with hammer and nails, so that it will not totter.

With silver and with gold they beautify it, With nails and with hammers they fix it, And it doth not stumble.

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.”

As a palm they [are] stiff, and they speak not, They are surely borne, for they step not, Be not afraid of them, for they do no evil, Yea, also to do good is not in them.

6 There is none like You, O LORD. You are great, and Your name is mighty in power.

Because there is none like Thee, O Jehovah, Great [art] Thou, and great Thy name in might.

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 doth not fear Thee, king of the nations? For to Thee it is becoming, For among all the wise of the nations, And in all their kingdom there is none like Thee.

8 But they are altogether senseless and foolish, instructed by worthless idols made of wood!

And in one they are brutish and foolish, An instruction of vanities [is] the tree itself.

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.

Spread-out silver from Tarshish is brought, And gold from Uphaz, Work of an artisan, and of the hands of a refiner, Blue and purple [is] their clothing, Work of the skilful — all of them.

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.

And Jehovah [is] a God of truth, He [is] a living God, and a king age-during, From His wrath shake doth the earth, And nations endure not 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 do ye say to them, The gods Who the heavens and earth have not made, They do 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.

The maker of the earth by His power, The establisher of the world by His wisdom, Who, by His understanding, stretched forth 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.

At the voice He giveth forth, A multitude of waters [is] in the heavens, And He causeth vapours to come up from the end of the earth, Lightnings for rain He hath made, And bringeth out wind from His treasures.

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 man by knowledge, Put to shame is every refiner by a graven image, For false [is] his molten image. And there is no breath in them.

15 They are worthless, a work to be mocked. In the time of their punishment they will perish.

Vanity [are] they, work of erring ones, In the time of their inspection 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 these [is] the Portion of Jacob, For framer of all things [is] He, And Israel [is] the rod of His inheritance, Jehovah of Hosts [is] His name.

17 Gather up your belongings from this land, you who live under siege.

Gather from the land thy merchandise, O dweller in the bulwark,

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 said Jehovah: Lo, I am slinging out the inhabitants of the land at this time, And have been an adversary to them, So that they are found out.

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.”

Woe to me for my breaking, Grievious hath been my smiting, And I said, Only, this [is] my sickness, and I 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 hath been spoiled, And all my cords have been broken, My sons have gone out from me, and they are not, There is none stretching out any more my tent, And raising 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, And Jehovah they have not sought, Therefore they have not acted wisely, And all their flock is scattered.

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.

A voice of a report, lo, it hath come, Even a great shaking from the north country, To make the cities of Judah a desolation, A habitation of dragons.

23 I know, O LORD, that a man’s way is not his own; no one who walks directs his own steps.

I have known, O Jehovah, that not of man [is] his way, Not of man the going and establishing of his step.

24 Correct me, O LORD, but only with justice— not in Your anger, or You will bring me to nothing.

Chastise me, O Jehovah, only in judgment, Not in Thine anger, lest Thou make me small.

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 fury on the nations that have not known Thee, And on the families that have not called in Thy name, For they have eaten up Jacob, Yea, they have eaten him up, yea, they consume him, And his habitation they have made desolate!