Idols and the Living God

10 Hear the word that the Lord speaks to you, O house of Israel. 2 Thus says the Lord:

“Learn not the way of the nations,

nor be dismayed at the signs of the heavens

because the nations are dismayed at them,

3  ffor the customs of the peoples are vanity.1

gA tree from the forest is cut down

and worked with an axe by the hands of a craftsman.

4  hThey decorate it with silver and gold;

ithey fasten it with hammer and nails

so that it cannot move.

5  Their idols2 are like scarecrows in a cucumber field,

and jthey cannot speak;

kthey have to be carried,

for they cannot walk.

Do not be afraid of them,

lfor they cannot do evil,

neither is it in them to do good.”

6  mThere is none like you, O Lord;

you are great, and your name is great in might.

7  nWho would not fear you, O King of the nations?

For this is your due;

for among all the wise ones of the nations

and in all their kingdoms

there is none like you.

8  oThey are both pstupid and foolish;

the instruction of idols is but wood!

9  qBeaten silver is brought from rTarshish,

and gold from sUphaz.

qThey are the work of the craftsman and of the hands of the goldsmith;

their clothing is violet and purple;

tthey are all the work of skilled men.

10  uBut the Lord is the true God;

vhe is the living God and the everlasting King.

At his wrath the earth quakes,

and the nations cannot endure his indignation.

11 Thus shall you say to them: w“The gods who did not make the heavens and the earth xshall perish from the earth and from under the heavens.”3