Jeremias 10
1 Hear you the word of the Lord, which he has spoken to you, O house of Israel.
Hear ye the word, O house of Israel, That Jehovah hath spoken for you.
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.
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 nations are vain; it is a tree cut out of the forest, the work of the carpenter, or a molten image.
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 are] beautified with silver and gold, they fix them with hammers and nails;
With silver and with gold they beautify it, With nails and with hammers they fix it, And it doth not stumble.
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.
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.
Because there is none like Thee, O Jehovah, Great [art] Thou, and great Thy name in might.
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.
And in one they are brutish and foolish, An instruction of vanities [is] the tree itself.
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.
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 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 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 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 maker of the earth by His power, The establisher of the world by His wisdom, Who, by His understanding, stretched forth the heavens,
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 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 deprived of knowledge, every goldsmith is confounded because of his graven images; for he has cast false gods, 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 vain works, wrought in mockery; in the time of their visitation they shall perish.
Vanity [are] they, work of erring ones, In the time of their inspection they perish.
16 Such is not the portion of Jacob; for he that formed all things, he is his inheritance; the Lord 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 He has gathered your substance from without the lodged in choice [vessels].
Gather from the land thy merchandise, O dweller in the bulwark,
18 For thus says the Lord, Behold, I [will] overthrow the inhabitants of this land with affliction, that your plague may be discovered.
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 Alas for your ruin! your plague is grievous: and I said, Surely this is your wound, and it has overtaken you.
Woe to me for my breaking, Grievious hath been my smiting, And I said, Only, this [is] my sickness, and I 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 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 foolish, and have not sought the Lord; therefore the whole pasture has failed, and [the sheep] have been 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 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.
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 man's way is not his own; neither shall a man go, and direct his going.
I have known, O Jehovah, that not of man [is] his way, Not of man the going and establishing of his step.
24 Chasten us, O Lord, but with judgement; and not in wrath, lest you make us few.
Chastise me, O Jehovah, only in judgment, Not in Thine anger, lest Thou make me small.
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 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!
