Jeremias 10
1 Hear ye the word of the Lord, which he has spoken to you, O house of Israel.
Give ear to the word which the Lord says to you, O people of Israel:
2 Thus saith the Lord, Learn ye 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 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.
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 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.
4 [They are] beautified with silver and gold, they fix them with hammers and nails;
They make it beautiful with silver and gold; they make it strong with nails and hammers, so that it may not be moved.
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 cannot ride [of themselves]. Fear them not; for they cannot do any evil, and there is no good in them.
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.
There is no one like you, O Lord; you are great and your name is great in power.
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.
But they are together like beasts and foolish: the teaching of false gods is wood.
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.
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.
11 Thus shall ye say to them, Let the gods which have not made heaven and earth perish from off the earth, and from under this sky.
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.
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,
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
15 They are vain works, wrought in mockery; in the time of their visitation they shall perish.
They are nothing, a work of error: in the time of their punishment, destruction will overtake them.
16 Such is not the portion of Jacob; for he that formed all things, he is his inheritance; the Lord is his name.
The heritage of Jacob is not like these; for the maker of all things is his heritage: the Lord of armies is his name.
17 He has gathered thy substance from without the lodged in choice [vessels].
Get your goods together and go out of the land, O you who are shut up in the walled town.
18 For thus saith the Lord, Behold, I [will] overthrow the inhabitants of this land with affliction, that thy plague may be discovered.
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.
19 Alas for thy ruin! thy plague is grievous: and I said, Surely this is thy wound, and it has overtaken thee.
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.
20 Thy tabernacle is in a ruinous state, it has perished; and all thy 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 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.
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 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.
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.
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.
23 I know, O Lord, that man's way is not his own; neither shall a man go, and direct his going.
O Lord, I am conscious that a man's way is not in himself: man has no power of guiding his steps.
24 Chasten us, O Lord, but with judgment; and not in wrath, lest thou make us few.
O Lord, put me right, but with wise purpose; not in your wrath, or you will make me small.
25 Pour out thy wrath upon the nations that have not known thee, and upon the families that have not called upon thy name: for they have devoured Jacob, and consumed him, and have made his pasture desolate.
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.
