Jeremiah 10

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