Jeremiah 10

1 Hear all of you the word which the LORD speaks unto you, O house of Israel:

Hear you the word of the Lord, which he has spoken to you, O house of Israel.

2 Thus says the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.

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 For the customs of the people are vain: for one cuts a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe.

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 deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.

[They are] beautified with silver and gold, they fix them with hammers and nails;

5 They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must essentially be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good.

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 Forasmuch as there is none like unto you, O LORD; you are great, and your name is great in might.

7 Who would not fear you, O King of nations? in order to you does it appertain: forasmuch as among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like unto you.

8 But they are altogether brutish and foolish: the stock is a doctrine of vanities.

9 Silver spread into plates is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the workman, and of the hands of the founder: blue and purple is their clothing: they are all the work of cunning men.

10 But the LORD is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation.

11 Thus shall all of you say unto them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the 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 He has made the earth by his power, he has established the world by his wisdom, and has stretched out the heavens by his discretion.

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 When he utters his voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens, and he causes the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; he makes lightnings with rain, and brings forth the wind out of his treasures.

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 Every man is brutish in his knowledge: every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.

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 vanity, and the work of errors: in the time of their visitation they shall perish.

They are vain works, wrought in mockery; in the time of their visitation they shall perish.

16 The portion of Jacob is not like them: for he is the former of all things; and Israel is the rod of his inheritance: The LORD of hosts 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 Gather up your wares out of the land, O inhabitant of the fortress.

He has gathered your substance from without the lodged in choice [vessels].

18 For thus says the LORD, Behold, I will sling out the inhabitants of the land at this once, and will distress them, that they may find it so.

For thus says the Lord, Behold, I [will] overthrow the inhabitants of this land with affliction, that your plague may be discovered.

19 Woe is me for my hurt! my wound is grievous; but I said, Truly this is a grief, and I must bear it.

Alas for your ruin! your plague is grievous: and I said, Surely this is your wound, and it has overtaken you.

20 My tabernacle is spoiled, and all my cords are broken: my children are gone out of me, and they are not: there is none to stretch forth my tent any more, and to set up my 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 For the pastors are become brutish, and have not sought the LORD: therefore they shall not prosper, and all their flocks shall be 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 Behold, the noise of the bruit has come, and a great commotion out of the north country, to make the cities of Judah desolate, and a den of dragons.

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 O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walks to direct his steps.

I know, O Lord, that man's way is not his own; neither shall a man go, and direct his going.

24 O LORD, correct me, but with judgment; not in your anger, lest you bring me to nothing.

Chasten us, O Lord, but with judgment; and not in wrath, lest you make us few.

25 Pour out your fury upon the heathen that know you not, and upon the families that call not on your name: for they have eaten up Jacob, and devoured him, and consumed him, and have made his habitation desolate.

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.