Jeremiah 10–11

10TH CHAPTER

¹Listen to the message that the Lord has spoken to you, nation of Israel. ²This is what the Lord says: 

Don’t learn the practices of the nations. 

Don’t be frightened by the signs in the sky 

because the nations are frightened by them. 

³The religion of the people is worthless. 

Woodcutters cut down trees from the forest. 

The hands of craftsmen prepare them with axes. 

⁴Craftsmen decorate them with silver and gold 

and fasten them ⸤together⸥ with hammers and nails 

so that they won’t fall over. 

⁵These trees are like scarecrows in cucumber gardens. 

They aren’t able to speak. 

They have to be carried, because they can’t walk. 

Don’t be afraid of them. 

They can’t harm you. 

They can’t do you any good either. 

⁶No one is like you, O Lord. 

You are great. 

Your name is powerful. 

⁷Everyone fears you, O King of the Nations. 

This is what you deserve. 

No one is like you among all the wise people in the nations 

or in all their kingdoms. 

⁸They are complete idiots. 

They learn nonsense from wooden idols. 

⁹Hammered silver is brought from Tarshish and gold from Uphaz. 

Craftsmen and goldsmiths shape these metals. 

The clothing for the idols is blue and purple, 

all made by skilled workers. 

¹⁰But the Lord is the only God. 

He is the living God and eternal king. 

The earth trembles when he is angry. 

The nations can’t endure his fury. 

¹¹Tell them this: These gods will disappear from the earth 

and from under heaven because they didn’t make heaven and earth. 

¹²The Lord made the earth by his power. 

He set up the world by his skill. 

He stretched out the world by his understanding. 

¹³He speaks, and the water in the sky produces a storm. 

He makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth. 

He makes lightning flash with the rain. 

He brings wind out of his storehouses. 

¹⁴Everyone is stupid and ignorant. 

Metalsmiths are put to shame by their idols. 

Their statues are false ⸤gods⸥. 

They can’t breathe. 

¹⁵They are worthless jokes. 

When they are punished, they disappear. 

¹⁶Jacob’s God isn’t like them. 

He made everything, 

and Israel is the tribe that belongs to him. 

His name is the Lord of Armies. 

¹⁷Pick up your bags. You are being blockaded. 

¹⁸This is what the Lord says: 

I am going to throw out those who live in the land at this time 

and cause trouble for them so that they will feel it. 

¹⁹Oh, I’m wounded! 

My wound is serious. 

Then I thought that this is my punishment, and I will bear it. 

²⁰My tent is destroyed, and all my ropes are broken. 

My children have left me and have disappeared. 

There’s no one to set up my tent again 

or put up my tent curtains. 

²¹The shepherds are foolish. 

They don’t look to the Lord for help. 

That is why they won’t succeed, 

and all their flocks will be scattered. 

²²The report has arrived. 

A tremendous uproar is coming from the land of the north. 

Its army will destroy Judah’s cities 

and make them homes for jackals. 

²³O Lord, I know that the way humans act is not under their control. 

Humans do not direct their steps as they walk. 

²⁴Correct me, O Lord, but please be fair. 

Don’t correct me when you’re angry. 

Otherwise, you’ll reduce me to nothing. 

²⁵Pour out your fury on the nations who don’t know you 

and on people who don’t worship you. 

They have devoured the descendants of Jacob. 

They have devoured them completely. 

They have destroyed their homes. 

11TH CHAPTER

Judah Has Disobeyed the Terms of the Lord’s Promise

¹This is the message that the Lord spoke to Jeremiah. He said, ²“Listen to the terms of this promise,^aand tell them to the people of Judah and to those who live in Jerusalem. ³Say to them, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Cursed is anyone who doesn’t listen to the terms of this promise. ⁴I made this promise to your ancestors when I brought them out of Egypt, which was an iron smelter. I said, “Obey me, and do everything that I have told you to do. Then you will be my people, and I will be your God. ⁵I will keep the oath I made to your ancestors and give them a land flowing with milk and honey, the land you still have today.” ’ ” 

I answered, “Yes, Lord.” 

⁶The Lord said to me, “Announce all these things in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: Listen to the terms of this promise, and keep them. ⁷I solemnly warned your ancestors when I brought them out of Egypt, and the warning still applies to you today. I solemnly warned them to obey me. ⁸But they didn’t obey me or pay attention to me. They followed their own stubborn, evil ways. So I punished them, because they did not keep all the terms of the promise, the terms that I commanded them to keep.” 

⁹The Lord said to me, “Conspiracy exists among the people of Judah and among those who live in Jerusalem. ¹⁰They’ve gone back to the evil ways of their ancestors and refused to obey my words. They are following other gods and worshiping them. The nations of Israel and Judah have rejected the promise that I made to their ancestors. ¹¹This is what the Lord says: I’m going to bring a disaster on them that they can’t escape. Although they will cry out to me, I won’t listen to them. ¹²Then the cities of Judah and those who live in Jerusalem will cry to the gods to whom they’ve been sacrificing. But these gods will never rescue them when they’re in trouble. ¹³Judah, you have as many gods as you have cities. You have set up many altars ⸤in Jerusalem⸥ to sacrifice to Baal. You have as many altars as there are streets in Jerusalem. ¹⁴Jeremiah, don’t pray for these people. Don’t cry or pray for them. I won’t listen when they call to me for help in times of trouble. 

¹⁵“What right do these people I love have to be in my house 

when they do so many devious things? 

Can the meat from their sacrifices turn disaster away from them? 

They rejoice when they do evil.” 

¹⁶The Lord called you a large olive tree 

that has beautiful fruit to look at. 

He will set fire to you with a mighty storm, 

and your branches will be broken. 

¹⁷The Lord of Armies planted you. 

He has pronounced disaster on you. 

This is because of the evil things 

that Israel and Judah have done. 

They have made him furious by burning incense 

as an offering to Baal. 

Jeremiah’s Life Is Threatened

¹⁸The Lord revealed their plot to me so that I would understand. He showed me what they were doing. ¹⁹I was like a trusting lamb brought to the slaughter. I didn’t know that they were plotting against me. They were saying, “Let’s destroy the tree with its fruit. Let’s cut Jeremiah off from this world of the living so that we won’t be reminded of him anymore.” 

²⁰O Lord of Armies, you judge fairly 

and test motives and thoughts. 

I want to see you take revenge on them, 

because I’ve brought my case to you. 

²¹This is what the Lord says: The people of Anathoth want to kill you. They say, “Don’t prophesy in the name of the Lord, or we’ll kill you.” 

²²This is what the Lord of Armies says: I’m going to punish them. The young men will die because of war. Their sons and daughters will die because of famine. ²³I will bring a disaster on the people of Anathoth. It will be a year of punishment. There will be no survivors.