Jeremiah 10:2–16

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.