Jeremiah 10

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

Hear ye the word of the Lord, which he has spoken to 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 saith the Lord, Learn ye 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 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 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 He has adorned it with silver and gold. He has put it together with nail and hammer, so that it will not fall apart.

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

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.”

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 cannot ride [of themselves]. Fear them not; for they cannot do any evil, and there is no good in them.

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

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.

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

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.

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 to them, Let the gods which have not made heaven and earth perish from off the earth, and from under this sky.

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

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 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.

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 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.

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

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

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.

Such is not the portion of Jacob; for he that formed all things, he is his inheritance; the Lord is his name.

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

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

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 saith the Lord, Behold, I [will] overthrow the inhabitants of this land with affliction, that thy plague may be discovered.

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.

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

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.

Thy tabernacle is in a ruinous state, it has perished; and all thy 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 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 have become foolish, and have not sought the Lord; therefore the whole pasture has failed, and [the sheep] have been 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, 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 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 man's way is not his own; neither shall a man go, and direct his going.

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

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

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 wrath upon the nations that have not known thee, and upon the families that have not called upon thy name: for they have devoured Jacob, and consumed him, and have made his pasture desolate.