Jeremiah 10:3–11

^3ffor 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.

^4hThey decorate it with silver and gold;

ⁱthey fasten it with hammer and nails

so that it cannot move.

⁵Their 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.”

^6mThere is none like you, O Lord;

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

⁷ⁿWho 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.

^8oThey are both ^pstupid and foolish;

the instruction of idols is but wood!

^9qBeaten 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.

^10uBut 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.

¹¹Thus 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