Jeremiah 10
1 Hear ye the word which Yahweh hath spoken unto you, O house of Israel: —
You people of Israel, listen to what Yahweh says:
2 Thus, saith Yahweh—Unto the way of the nations, become not ye accustomed, Nor at the signs of the heavens, be ye dismayed, —Because the nations are dismayed at them.
“Do not act like the people of [other] nations act, and do not be terrified by strange/unusual things that you see in the sky, even though they cause the [people of other] nations to be terrified.
3 For as for the prescribed customs of the peoples, vanity, they are, —For a tree out of the forest, one cutteth down, Work for the hands of a skilled workman with the axe:
The customs of the people [of other nations] are worthless. [For example], they cut down a tree in the forest. Then a [skilled] worker/craftsman [cuts a section of it and] uses his chisel to carve an idol from that section.
4 With silver and with gold, he decketh it, —With nails and with hammers, they fasten them, that it may not totter.
[Then] people decorate the idol with silver and gold. [Then] they fasten it securely with nails in order that it will not topple/fall over.
5 Mere palm-trunks turned, they are and cannot speak, They must needs be, carried, for they cannot take a step, Be not afraid of them, for they cannot do harm, And even to do good, is not in their power.
[Then] the idol [stands there] like [SIM] a scarecrow in a field of cucumbers/melons! It cannot speak, and people must carry it, because it cannot walk. Do not be afraid of idols, because they cannot harm [anyone], and they cannot do [anything] good [to help anyone].”
6 None, there is, like unto thee, O Yahweh, —Great, art, thou, And, great, is thy Name, for might.
Yahweh, there is no one like you. You [MTY] are great, and you are very powerful.
7 Who would not revere thee, O King of nations? For, thee, doth it beseem; Forasmuch as among all the wise men of the nations And throughout all their royal estate, None, there is like unto thee.
You are the king of all the nations! Everyone should [RHQ] revere you, because that is what you deserve. Among all the wise people on the earth and in all the kingdoms where they live, (there is no one like you./who can compare with you?)
8 But at once, do they become brutish and stupid, —An example of utmost vanity, is, a tree!
Those people who [think that they are] very wise [IRO] are stupid and foolish [DOU]. The idols that they worship are only made of wood! Those idols certainly cannot teach them anything.
9 Silver spread into plates, from Tarshish is brought, And gold, from Uphaz, Work for the craftsman and for the hands of the smith, —Blue and purple, is their clothing, Work for the skilled, are they all.
People hammer into thin sheets silver from Tarshish and gold from Uphaz, and then they give those sheets of silver and gold to skilled workers/craftsmen to cover the idols. Then they put on those idols expensive purple robes that are made by skilled workers.
10 But, Yahweh, is God in truth, He, is a God that, liveth, And a King of times age-abiding, —At his anger, quaketh the earth, And nations cannot endure his wrath.
But Yahweh is the [only] true God; he is the all-powerful God, the king [who rules] forever. When he is angry, [all] the earth shakes/quakes; and [the people of] the nations cannot endure [what he does] when he is angry [with them].
11 Thus, shall ye say unto them, The gods that made not the heavens, And the earth, Shall perish out of the earth, And from under these heavens!
[You Israeli people], tell this to those people: “Those idols did not make the sky and the earth, and they will disappear from the earth.”
12 He that made the earth by his power, That established the world by his wisdom, —And by his understanding stretched out the heavens,
But [Yahweh] made the earth by his power; he established it [firmly] by his wisdom and stretched out the sky by his understanding.
13 At the voice that he uttered, there was a tumult of waters in the heavens, And he caused vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth, —The lightnings for rain, he made, And brought forth wind out of his treasuries.
When he speaks [loudly], there is thunder in the sky; he causes clouds to form over every part of the earth. He sends lightning with the rain and releases the winds from his storehouses.
14 Every son of earth hath become too brutish to discern, Every goldsmith, hath been put to shame by a graven image, —For a falsehood, is his molten image, Seeing there is no breath in them.
People are senseless and know very little [HYP]; those who make idols are always disappointed because their idols do nothing for them. The images/statues that they make are not real [gods]; they are lifeless.
15 Vanity, they are, the handiwork of mockeries, —In the time of their visitation, shall they perish.
Idols are worthless; they deserve to be ridiculed; there will be a time when they [all] will be destroyed.
16 Not like these, is the portion of Jacob, For the fashioner of all things, is, he, And, Israel, is his inherited sceptre, —Yahweh of hosts, is his name.
But the God whom we Israelis worship is not like those idols; he is the one who created everything [that exists]; we, the tribe/people of Israel, belong to him; he is the Commander of the armies of angels.
17 Fold up, from the ground thy travelling carpet, —O inhabitress of the fortress;
[Yahweh says this to the people of Jerusalem]: “The army of your enemies surrounds your city, so gather up your possessions [and prepare] to leave the city.
18 For, thus, saith Yahweh, Behold me! slinging out the inhabitants of the land at this throw, —And I will distress them that they may discover it.
I will soon throw you out of this land and cause you to experience great troubles, with the result that you will have severe pain (OR, none of you will be left here).”
19 Woe to me! for my grievous injury, Severe, is my wound, —But, I, said, Verily, this, is an affliction and I must bear it:
[The people replied, “It is as though] we have been [badly] wounded, and we are very grieved; [It is as though] we have a very serious illness, and we must endure the pain.
20 My tent, is laid waste, And all my tent-cords, are broken, —My children, are gone forth from me and they, are not. There is none, To stretch out any more my tent, Or to set up my curtains.
[It is as though] our [great] tent is destroyed; the ropes [that held it up] have been cut; our children have gone away from us and will not return; there are no people left to rebuild our great tent.
21 For the shepherds, have become brutish, And Yahweh, have they not sought, —For this cause, have they not prospered, And, all their flock, is scattered.
Our leaders [MET] no [longer] have any sense; they no [longer] ask Yahweh [to (guide them/tell them what to do)], so they will no [longer] prosper, and all those over whom they rule [MET] will be scattered.
22 The noise of a rumour! lo it hath come! Even a great commotion out of the land of the North, —To make the cities of Judah, A desolation, A den of jackals.
Listen! [Our enemies’ armies] in the north are making a [very] big noise/commotion [as they march toward us]. The towns in Judah will be destroyed, [and they will become] a place where jackals/wolves live.”
23 I know O Yahweh, That not to a son of earth, pertaineth his own path, —Not, to the man who walketh, also to direct his own steps.
Yahweh, I know that no person controls what will happen to him; no one is able to direct the events that he will experience.
24 Chastise me, O Yahweh But yet in measure, —Not in thine anger, lest thou make me few.
[So] correct/discipline us, but do it gently. Do not correct/punish us when you are angry, because we would die if you did that.
25 Pour out thy wrath—Upon the nations that know thee not, and Upon the families that, upon thy Name, have not called, —For they have devoured Jacob Yea they have devoured him and consumed him, And, his habitation, have they made desolate.
Punish [MTY] [all] the nations whose people do not acknowledge/say that you are God; punish all the nations whose people do not worship you, because they are completely destroying [DOU] [us people of] Israel and they are causing our land to soon be only a desert.
