Jeremiah 10
1 Hear ye the word, O house of Israel, That Jehovah hath spoken for you.
You people of Israel, listen to what Yahweh says:
2 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.
“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 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,
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 they beautify it, With nails and with hammers they fix it, And it doth not stumble.
[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 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.
[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 Because there is none like Thee, O Jehovah, Great [art] Thou, and great Thy name in might.
Yahweh, there is no one like you. You [MTY] are great, and you are very powerful.
7 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.
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 And in one they are brutish and foolish, An instruction of vanities [is] the tree itself.
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 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.
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 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.
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 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.
[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 The maker of the earth by His power, The establisher of the world by His wisdom, Who, by His understanding, stretched forth 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 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.
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 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.
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 [are] they, work of erring ones, In the time of their inspection 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 framer of all things [is] He, And Israel [is] the rod of His inheritance, Jehovah 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 Gather from the land thy merchandise, O dweller in the bulwark,
[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 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.
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 breaking, Grievious hath been my smiting, And I said, Only, this [is] my sickness, and I 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 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.
[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 Jehovah they have not sought, Therefore they have not acted wisely, 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 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.
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 have known, O Jehovah, that not of man [is] his way, Not of man the going and establishing of his step.
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 Jehovah, only in judgment, Not in Thine anger, lest Thou make me small.
[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 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!
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.
