Jeremiah 10
1 Listen to the message the Lord is sending to you, people of Israel.
Hear you the word of the Lord, which he has spoken to you, O house of Israel.
2 This is what the Lord says: Don't adopt the practices of other nations. Don't be terrified as they are by signs in the heavens that they interpret as predicting disaster.
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.
3 The religious beliefs of the peoples are pointless. They chop down a tree in the forest and a craftsman carves the wood with a tool to make an idol.
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.
4 They decorate it with silver and gold, and nail it down with a hammer so it won't fall over.
[They are] beautified with silver and gold, they fix them with hammers and nails;
5 Just like a scarecrow in a field of cucumbers, their idols can't speak. They have to be carried around because they can't walk. You don't have to be afraid of them because they can't hurt you—and they can't do you any good either.
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.
6 There's no one like you, Lord! You are so great! You are incredibly powerful!
7 Everyone should respect you, King of the nations. This is how you should be treated. There's no one like you among all the wise men of every nation and kingdom.
8 Yet these “wise men” are completely foolish and stupid, because they think they can be taught by useless idols made of wood!
9 Sheets of hammered silver are shipped in from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, to be used by craftsmen and metalworkers. These idols are dressed in clothes of blue and purple made by experts.
10 But the Lord is the only true God. He is the living God and eternal King. The earth shakes when he is angry; the nations can't withstand his fury.
11 This is what you are to tell the nations: “These gods, who didn't make either the heavens or the earth, will be wiped out from this earth and from under these heavens.”
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.
12 It was God who made the earth by his power. He created the world by his wisdom and by his understanding he put the heavens in place.
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,
13 The waters of the heavens rain down with a roar at his command. He makes the clouds to rise all over the earth. He makes lightning to accompany rain, and sends the wind from his storehouses.
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.
14 Everyone is stupid; they don't know anything. Every metalworker is embarrassed by the idols they make. For their images made of molten metal are fraudulent—they're not alive!
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.
15 They are useless, an object to be laughed at. They will be destroyed at the time of their punishment.
They are vain works, wrought in mockery; in the time of their visitation they shall perish.
16 The God of Jacob is not like these idols, for he is the Creator of everything, and Israel is the tribe that belongs to him. The Lord Almighty is his name.
Such is not the portion of Jacob; for he that formed all things, he is his inheritance; the Lord is his name.
17 You people living in Jerusalem under siege, get all your things together ready to leave,
He has gathered your substance from without the lodged in choice [vessels].
18 because this is what the Lord says: Look! Right now I'm about to throw out the people living in this country, bringing them trouble they will really feel.
For thus says the Lord, Behold, I [will] overthrow the inhabitants of this land with affliction, that your plague may be discovered.
19 The people of Jerusalem responded, “We're suffering terribly because we've been badly hurt—our injuries are really serious. We thought it wouldn't be that bad and that we could bear it.
Alas for your ruin! your plague is grievous: and I said, Surely this is your wound, and it has overtaken you.
20 Our tents have been destroyed; all our ropes have been broken. Our children have been taken from us and are no more. We don't have anyone left to put up our tents or hang our curtains.”
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.
21 The “shepherds” have become stupid—they don't ask the Lord for advice. That's why they have failed, and all their flock has been scattered.
For the shepherds have become foolish, and have not sought the Lord; therefore the whole pasture has failed, and [the sheep] have been scattered.
22 Listen to the news that an noisy army is invading from a country to the north. The towns of Judah will be knocked down, they will be places where only jackals live.
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.
23 I realize, Lord, that people don't control their own lives—no one really knows how to choose their way.
I know, O Lord, that man's way is not his own; neither shall a man go, and direct his going.
24 Please discipline me fairly, Lord—not while you're angry, otherwise you'll kill me!
Chasten us, O Lord, but with judgement; and not in wrath, lest you make us few.
25 Pour out your fury on the nations that don't recognize you as God, and on their families that don't worship you. For they have completely destroyed the Israelites, wiping us out. They have devastated our country.
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.
