Chapter 10

A Satire on Idolatry

1 Hear the word which the Lord speaks to you, O house of Israel.

2 Thus says the Lord,

“aDo not learn the way of the nations,

And do not be terrified by the signs of the heavens

Although the nations are terrified by them;

3 For the customs of the peoples are 1adelusion;

Because bit is wood cut from the forest,

The work of the hands of a craftsman with a cutting tool.

4 “They adecorate it with silver and with gold;

They bfasten it with nails and with hammers

So that it will not totter.

5 “Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field are they,

And they acannot speak;

They must be bcarried,

Because they cannot walk!

Do not fear them,

For they ccan do no harm,

Nor can they do any good.”

6 aThere is none like You, O Lord;

You are bgreat, and great is Your name in might.

7 aWho would not fear You, O bKing of the nations?

Indeed it is Your due!

For among all the cwise men of the nations

And in all their kingdoms,

There is none like You.

8 But they are altogether astupid and foolish

In their discipline of 1delusion—2their idol is wood!

9 Beaten asilver is brought from bTarshish,

And cgold from Uphaz,

The work of a craftsman and of the hands of a goldsmith;

Violet and purple are their clothing;

They are all the dwork of skilled men.

10 But the Lord is the atrue God;

He is the bliving God and the ceverlasting King.

At His wrath the dearth quakes,

And the nations cannot eendure His indignation.

11 1Thus you shall say to them, “The agods that did not make the heavens and the earth will bperish from the earth and from under the 2heavens.”

12 It is aHe who made the earth by His power,

Who bestablished the world by His wisdom;

And by His understanding He has cstretched out the heavens.

13 When He utters His avoice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens,

And He causes the bclouds to ascend from the end of the earth;

He makes lightning for the rain,

And brings out the cwind from His storehouses.

14 Every man is astupid, devoid of knowledge;

Every goldsmith is put to shame by his 1idols;

For his molten images are deceitful,

And there is no breath in them.

15 They are aworthless, a work of mockery;

In the btime of their punishment they will perish.

16 The aportion of Jacob is not like these;

For the 1bMaker of all is He,

And cIsrael is the tribe of His inheritance;

The dLord of hosts is His name.

17 aPick up your bundle from the ground,

You who dwell under siege!

18 For thus says the Lord,

“Behold, I am aslinging out the inhabitants of the land

At this time,

And will cause them distress,

That they may 1be found.”

19 aWoe is me, because of my 1injury!

My bwound is incurable.

But I said, “Truly this is a sickness,

And I cmust bear it.”

20 My atent is destroyed,

And all my ropes are broken;

My bsons have gone from me and are no more.

There is cno one to stretch out my tent again

Or to set up my curtains.

21 For the shepherds have become stupid

And ahave not sought the Lord;

Therefore they have not prospered,

And ball their flock is scattered.

22 The sound of a areport! Behold, it comes—

A great commotion bout of the land of the north—

To cmake the cities of Judah

A desolation, a haunt of jackals.

23 I know, O Lord, that aa man’s way is not in himself,

bNor is it in a man who walks to direct his steps.

24 aCorrect me, O Lord, but with justice;

Not with Your anger, or You will 1bring me to nothing.

25 aPour out Your wrath on the nations that bdo not know You

And on the families that cdo not call Your name;

For they have devoured Jacob;

They have ddevoured him and consumed him

And have laid waste his 1habitation.