Jeremiah 10–11

FALSE GODS CONTRASTED WITH THE CREATOR

10Hear the word that the Lord has spoken to^B you, house of Israel. ²This is what the Lord says:

Do not learn the way of the nations^a

or be terrified by signs in the heavens,

although the nations are terrified by them,

³for the customs of the peoples are worthless.

Someone cuts down a tree from the forest;

it is worked by the hands of a craftsman with a chisel.

⁴He decorates it with silver and gold.^b

It is fastened with hammer and nails,^c

so it won’t totter.

⁵Like scarecrows in a cucumber patch,

their idols cannot speak.^d

They must be carried^e because they cannot walk.

Do not fear them for they can do no harm^f—

and they cannot do any good.^g

⁶Lord, there is no one like you.^h

You are great;

your name is great in power.ⁱ

⁷Who should not fear you,

King of the nations?^j

It is what you deserve.

For among all the wise people of the nations

and among all their kingdoms,

there is no one like you.

⁸They are both stupid and foolish,

instructed by worthless idols

made of wood!

⁹Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish^k

and gold from Uphaz.^Cl

The work of a craftsman

and of a goldsmith’s hands

is clothed in blue and purple,

all the work of skilled artisans.

¹⁰But the Lord is the true God;^m

he is the living Godⁿ and eternal King.^o

The earth quakes at his wrath,^p

and the nations cannot endure his fury.

¹¹You are to say this to them: “The gods that did not make the heavens^q and the earth will perish from the earth^r and from under these heavens.”^D

¹²He made the earth by his power,

established the world^s by his wisdom,^t

and spread out the heavens by his understanding.^u

¹³When he thunders,^A

the waters in the heavens are in turmoil,^v

and he causes the clouds to rise

from the ends of the earth.

He makes lightning for the rain

and brings the wind from his storehouses.^w

¹⁴Everyone is stupid and ignorant.

Every goldsmith is put to shame

by his carved image,^x

for his cast images are a lie;^y

there is no breath in them.^z

¹⁵They are worthless, a work to be mocked.

At the time of their punishment

they will be destroyed.^aa

¹⁶Jacob’s Portion^B is not like these

because he is the one who formed all things.^ab

Israel is the tribe of his inheritance;^ac

the Lord of Armies is his name.^ad

EXILE AFTER THE SIEGE

¹⁷Gather up your belongings^C from the ground,^ae

you who live under siege.

¹⁸For this is what the Lord says:

Look, I am flinging away^af

the land’s residents at this time

and bringing them such distress

that they will feel it.

JEREMIAH GRIEVES

¹⁹Woe to me because of my brokenness—

I am severely wounded!^ag

I exclaimed, “This is my intense suffering,

but I must bear it.”

²⁰My tent is destroyed;^ah

all my tent cords are snapped.

My sons have departed from me and are no more.

I have no one to pitch my tent again

or to hang up my curtains.

²¹For the shepherds are stupid:

They don’t seek the Lord.^a

Therefore they have not prospered,

and their whole flock is scattered.

²²Listen! A noise—it is coming—

a great commotion^b from the land to the north.

The cities of Judah will be made desolate,

a jackals’ den.^c

²³I know, Lord,

that a person’s way of life is not his own;

no one who walks determines his own steps.^d

²⁴Discipline me, Lord, but with justice—

not in your anger,^e

or you will reduce me to nothing.

²⁵Pour out your wrath on the nations

that don’t recognize you

and on the families

that don’t call on your name,

for they have consumed Jacob;

they have consumed him and finished him off

and made his homeland desolate.^f

REMINDER OF THE COVENANT

11This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ²“Listen to the words of this covenant^g and tell them to the men of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem. ³Tell them, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: “Let a curse be on the man who does not obey the words of this covenant,^{h 4}which I commanded your ancestors when I brought them out of the land of Egypt,ⁱ out of the iron furnace.”^j I declared, “Obey me, and do everything that I command you, and you will be my people, and I will be your God,”^{k 5}in order to establish the oath I swore to your ancestors,^l to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is today.’ ”

I answered, “Amen, Lord.”^m

⁶The Lord said to me, “Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: ‘Obey the words of this covenant and carry them out.’ ⁷For I strongly warned your ancestors when I brought them out of the land of Egypt until today, warning them time and time again,^An ‘Obey me.’ ⁸Yet they would not obey or pay attention; each one followed the stubbornness of his evil heart.^o So I brought on them all the curses of this covenant, because they had not done what I commanded them to do.”

⁹The Lord said to me, “A conspiracy has been discovered among the men of Judah^p and the residents of Jerusalem. ¹⁰They have returned to the iniquities of their ancestors^q who refused to obey my words and have followed other gods to worship them.^r The house of Israel and the house of Judah broke my covenant I made with their ancestors.

¹¹“Therefore, this is what the Lord says: I am about to bring on them disaster that they cannot escape.^s They will cry out to me, but I will not hear them. ¹²Then the cities of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem will go and cry out to the gods they have been burning incense to, but they certainly will not save them in their time of disaster.^{t 13}Your gods are indeed as numerous as your cities, Judah,^u and the altars you have set up to Shame^Bv—altars to burn incense to Baal—as numerous as the streets of Jerusalem.

¹⁴“As for you, do not pray for these people. Do not raise up a cry or a prayer on their behalf,^w for I will not be listening when they call out to me at the time of their disaster.

¹⁵What right does my beloved have

to be in my house,^x

having carried out so many evil schemes?

Can holy meat^Cy prevent your disaster^D

so you can celebrate?

¹⁶The Lord named you

a flourishing olive tree,^z

beautiful with well-formed fruit.

He has set fire to it,

and its branches are consumed^Eaa

with the sound of a mighty tumult.^ab

¹⁷“The Lord of Armies who planted you^ac has decreed disaster against you, because of the disaster^A the house of Israel and the house of Judah brought on themselves when they angered me by burning incense to Baal.”

¹⁸The Lord informed me, so I knew.

Then you helped me to see their deeds,

¹⁹for I was like a docile^B lamb led to slaughter.^ad

I didn’t know that they had devised plots against me:

“Let’s destroy the tree with its fruit;^C

let’s cut him off from the land of the living^a

so that his name will no longer be remembered.”

²⁰But, Lord of Armies, who judges righteously,

who tests^b heart^D and mind,^c

let me see your vengeance on them,

for I have presented my case to you.^d

²¹Therefore, here is what the Lord says concerning the people of Anathoth^e who intend to take your life. They warn, “Do not prophesy in the name of the Lord,^f or you will certainly die at our hand.” ²²Therefore, this is what the Lord of Armies says: “I am about to punish them. The young men will die by the sword; their sons and daughters will die by famine.^{g 23}They will have no remnant, for I will bring disaster on the people of Anathoth^h in the year of their punishment.”