Jeremiah 10
1 Give ear to the word which the Lord says to you, O people of Israel:
Hear ye the word which Yahweh hath spoken unto you, O house of Israel: —
2 This is what the Lord has said: Do not go in the way of the nations; have no fear of the signs of heaven, for the nations go in fear of them.
Thus, saith Yahweh—Unto the way of the nations, become not ye accustomed, Nor at the signs of the heavens, be ye dismayed, —Because the nations are dismayed at them.
3 For that which is feared by the people is foolish: it is the work of the hands of the workman; for a tree is cut down by him out of the woods with his axe.
For as for the prescribed customs of the peoples, vanity, they are, —For a tree out of the forest, one cutteth down, Work for the hands of a skilled workman with the axe:
4 They make it beautiful with silver and gold; they make it strong with nails and hammers, so that it may not be moved.
With silver and with gold, he decketh it, —With nails and with hammers, they fasten them, that it may not totter.
5 It is like a pillar in a garden of plants, and has no voice: it has to be lifted, for it has no power of walking. Have no fear of it; for it has no power of doing evil and it is not able to do any good.
Mere palm-trunks turned, they are and cannot speak, They must needs be, carried, for they cannot take a step, Be not afraid of them, for they cannot do harm, And even to do good, is not in their power.
6 There is no one like you, O Lord; you are great and your name is great in power.
None, there is, like unto thee, O Yahweh, —Great, art, thou, And, great, is thy Name, for might.
7 Who would not have fear of you, O King of the nations? for it is your right: for among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is no one like you.
Who would not revere thee, O King of nations? For, thee, doth it beseem; Forasmuch as among all the wise men of the nations And throughout all their royal estate, None, there is like unto thee.
8 But they are together like beasts and foolish: the teaching of false gods is wood.
But at once, do they become brutish and stupid, —An example of utmost vanity, is, a tree!
9 Silver hammered into plates is sent from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the expert workman and of the hands of the gold-worker; blue and purple is their clothing, all the work of expert men.
Silver spread into plates, from Tarshish is brought, And gold, from Uphaz, Work for the craftsman and for the hands of the smith, —Blue and purple, is their clothing, Work for the skilled, are they all.
10 But the Lord is the true God; he is the living God and an eternal king: when he is angry, the earth is shaking with fear, and the nations give way before his wrath.
But, Yahweh, is God in truth, He, is a God that, liveth, And a King of times age-abiding, —At his anger, quaketh the earth, And nations cannot endure his wrath.
11 This is what you are to say to them: The gods who have not made the heavens and the earth will be cut off from the earth and from under the heavens.
Thus, shall ye say unto them, The gods that made not the heavens, And the earth, Shall perish out of the earth, And from under these heavens!
12 He has made the earth by his power, he has made the world strong in its place by his wisdom, and by his wise design the heavens have been stretched out.
He that made the earth by his power, That established the world by his wisdom, —And by his understanding stretched out the heavens,
13 At the sound of his voice there is a massing of waters in the heavens, and he makes the mists go up from the ends of the earth; he makes the thunder-flames for the rain, and sends out the wind from his store-houses.
At the voice that he uttered, there was a tumult of waters in the heavens, And he caused vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth, —The lightnings for rain, he made, And brought forth wind out of his treasuries.
14 Then every man becomes like a beast without knowledge; every gold-worker is put to shame by the image he has made: for his metal image is deceit, and there is no breath in them.
Every son of earth hath become too brutish to discern, Every goldsmith, hath been put to shame by a graven image, —For a falsehood, is his molten image, Seeing there is no breath in them.
15 They are nothing, a work of error: in the time of their punishment, destruction will overtake them.
Vanity, they are, the handiwork of mockeries, —In the time of their visitation, shall they perish.
16 The heritage of Jacob is not like these; for the maker of all things is his heritage: the Lord of armies is his name.
Not like these, is the portion of Jacob, For the fashioner of all things, is, he, And, Israel, is his inherited sceptre, —Yahweh of hosts, is his name.
17 Get your goods together and go out of the land, O you who are shut up in the walled town.
Fold up, from the ground thy travelling carpet, —O inhabitress of the fortress;
18 For the Lord has said, I will send the people in flight like a stone from the land at this time, troubling them so that they will be conscious of it.
For, thus, saith Yahweh, Behold me! slinging out the inhabitants of the land at this throw, —And I will distress them that they may discover it.
19 Sorrow is mine for I am wounded! my wound may not be made well; and I said, Cruel is my disease, I may not be free from it.
Woe to me! for my grievous injury, Severe, is my wound, —But, I, said, Verily, this, is an affliction and I must bear it:
20 My tent is pulled down and all my cords are broken: my children have gone from me, and they are not: no longer is there anyone to give help in stretching out my tent and hanging up my curtains.
My tent, is laid waste, And all my tent-cords, are broken, —My children, are gone forth from me and they, are not. There is none, To stretch out any more my tent, Or to set up my curtains.
21 For the keepers of the sheep have become like beasts, not looking to the Lord for directions: so they have not done wisely and all their flocks have been put to flight.
For the shepherds, have become brutish, And Yahweh, have they not sought, —For this cause, have they not prospered, And, all their flock, is scattered.
22 News is going about, see, it is coming, a great shaking is coming from the north country, so that the towns of Judah may be made waste and become the living-place of jackals.
The noise of a rumour! lo it hath come! Even a great commotion out of the land of the North, —To make the cities of Judah, A desolation, A den of jackals.
23 O Lord, I am conscious that a man's way is not in himself: man has no power of guiding his steps.
I know O Yahweh, That not to a son of earth, pertaineth his own path, —Not, to the man who walketh, also to direct his own steps.
24 O Lord, put me right, but with wise purpose; not in your wrath, or you will make me small.
Chastise me, O Yahweh But yet in measure, —Not in thine anger, lest thou make me few.
25 Let your wrath be let loose on the nations which have no knowledge of you, and on the families who give no worship to your name: for they have made a meal of Jacob, truly they have made a meal of him and put an end to him and made his fields a waste.
Pour out thy wrath—Upon the nations that know thee not, and Upon the families that, upon thy Name, have not called, —For they have devoured Jacob Yea they have devoured him and consumed him, And, his habitation, have they made desolate.
