Jeremiah 10

1 Listen to the word that the Lord has spoken concerning you, O house of Israel.

Hear ye the word which the Lord hath spoken concerning you, O house of Israel:

2 Thus says the Lord: “Do not choose to learn according to the ways of the Gentiles. And do not be willing to dread the signs of heaven, which the Gentiles fear.

Thus hath said the Lord, Do not habituate yourselves on the way of the nations, and at the signs of the heavens be ye not dismayed; although the nations should be dismayed at them.

3 For the laws of the people are empty. For the work of the hand of the craftsman has cut a tree from the forest with an axe.

For the statutes of these people concern what is vanity; for it is but a tree which a man hath cut out of a forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe.

4 He has adorned it with silver and gold. He has put it together with nail and hammer, so that it will not fall apart.

With silver and with gold do they ornament it; with nails and with hammers do they fasten it, that it move not from its place.

5 They have been fabricated in the likeness of a palm tree, and they will not speak. They must be carried to be moved, because they do not have the ability to walk. Therefore, do not be willing to fear them, for they can do neither evil nor good.”

As a wrought-out palm-like column are they, and cannot speak; they must needs be borne, because they cannot step along. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do any harm, so also to do any good is not in them.

6 O Lord, there is nothing similar to you. You are great, and your name is great in strength.

Forasmuch as there is none like unto thee, O Lord: thou [alone] art great, and great is thy name in might.

7 Who will not fear you, O King of the nations? For honor is yours. Among all the wise of the nations, and within all their kingdoms, there is nothing similar to you.

Who would not fear thee, O King of the nations? for to thee doth it appertain; because among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, [they say] there is none like unto thee.

8 Together, they will all be proven to be unwise and foolish. The doctrine of their vanity is made of wood.

But at once shall they be shown to be brutish and foolish: it is a doctrine of vanities, it concerneth but wood.

9 Rolled silver is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz. It is the work of a craftsman, and of the hand of a coppersmith. Hyacinth and purple is their clothing. All these things are the work of artists.

The beaten out silver is brought from Tharshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the workman, and of the hands of the goldsmith: blue and purple is their clothing; the work of skilful men are they all.

10 But the Lord is the true God. He is the living God and the everlasting King. Before his indignation, the earth will shake. And the Gentiles will not be able to withstand his threats.

But the Lord God is the truth, he is the living God, and the everlasting king: at his wrath the earth shall quake, and nations cannot endure his indignation.

11 “And so, you shall speak to them in this way: The gods that have not made heaven and earth, let them perish from the earth and from among those places which are under heaven.

Thus shall ye say unto them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, shall perish away from the earth, and from under these heavens.

12 He made the earth by his power, he prepared the world in his wisdom, and he stretched out the heavens with his understanding.

He made the earth by his power, he established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding he stretched out the heavens.

13 At his voice, he grants a multitude of waters in the heavens, and he lifts up the clouds from the ends of the earth. He causes the lightning with the rain, and he leads forth the wind from his storehouses.

At the sound when he giveth a multitude of waters in the heavens, and causeth clouds to ascend from the ends of the earth; when he maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures:

14 Every man has become a fool concerning knowledge; every artist has been confounded by his graven image. For what he has formed is false, and there is no spirit in these things.

Then standeth every man as brutish without knowledge; ashamed is every goldsmith because of the graven image; for falsehood is his molten work, and there is no breath therein.

15 These things are empty, and they are a work deserving of ridicule. In the time of their visitation, they will perish.

They are vanity, the work of deception; in the time of their punishment shall they vanish.

16 Jacob’s portion is not like their portion. For his portion is from the One who formed all things. And Israel is the staff of his inheritance. The Lord of hosts is his name.

Not like these is the portion of Jacob; for he is the former of all things; and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance: The Lord of hosts is his name.

17 Gather your shame from the earth, you who are living under siege.”

Gather up thy wares from the ground, O inhabitress of the beleaguered city.

18 For thus says the Lord: “Behold, in this turn, I will cast the inhabitants of the land far away. And I will afflict them no matter where they may be found.”

For thus hath said the Lord, Behold, I will cast forth as with a sling the inhabitants of the land at this time, and I will enclose them, in order that they may find them.

19 Woe to me, concerning my destruction! My wound is very grievous. And yet I said: Clearly, this infirmity is mine, and I will carry it.

Woe is me for my breach! my wound is painful; but I thought, This is but pain, and I shall be able to bear it.

20 My tent has been destroyed. All my cords have been broken. My sons have gone away from me; they did not remain. There is no one to stretch out my tent any more, nor to set up my curtains.

[But now] my tent is laid waste, and all my cords are torn asunder; my children are gone away from me, and they are not [here]; there is no one to stretch forth my tent any more, and to set up my curtains.

21 For the pastors have acted foolishly, and they have not sought the Lord. Because of this, they have not understood, and all their flock has been dispersed.

For the shepherds were brutish, and the Lord had they not sought; therefore have they not prospered, and all their flocks are scattered.

22 Behold, the sound of a voice approaches, a great commotion from the land of the north: so that he may make the cities of Judah into a wilderness and into a dwelling place for serpents.

Behold, the noise of the report is come, and a great commotion out of the north country, to render the cities of Judah desolate, a dwelling for monsters.

23 I know, O Lord, that the way of man is not his own. Neither is it given to man to walk and to direct his own steps.

I know, O Lord, that the way of man is not in his own power: it is not in man that passeth away to direct his own steps.

24 Correct me, O Lord, yet truly, do so with judgment, and not in your fury. Otherwise, you will reduce me to nothing.

Correct me, O Lord, but with justice; not in thy anger, lest thou bring me to nothing.

25 Pour out your indignation upon the nations that have not known you, and upon the provinces that have not invoked your name. For they have fed upon Jacob, and devoured him, and consumed him, and they have utterly destroyed his honor.

Pour out thy fury over the nations that know thee not, and over the families that have not called on thy name; for they have eaten up Jacob, and devoured him, and consumed him, and have made his dwelling desolate.