Jeremiah 10

CHAPTER 10

Yahweh Alone Is the Living God

¹Hear the word which Yahweh speaks to you, O house of Israel.

²Thus says Yahweh,

“^aDo not learn the way of the nations,

And do not be terrified by the signs of the heavens

Although the nations are terrified by them;

³For the statutes of the peoples are ^avanity

Because ^bit is wood cut from the forest,

The work of the hands of a craftsman with a cutting tool.

⁴“They ^amake it beautiful with silver and with gold;

They ^bstrengthen it with nails and with hammers

So that it will not totter.

⁵“Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field are they,

And they ^acannot speak;

They must be ^bcarried

Because they cannot take a step!

Do not fear them,

For they ^ccan do no harm,

Nor can they do any good.”

^6aThere is none like You, O Yahweh;

You are ^bgreat, and great is Your name in might.

^7aWho would not fear You, O ^bKing of the nations?

Indeed it is Your due!

For among all the ^cwise men of the nations

And in all their kingdoms,

There is none like You.

⁸But they are altogether ^asenseless and foolish;

They are in a discipline of ¹vanities—it is mere wood!

⁹Beaten ^asilver is brought from ^bTarshish,

And ^cgold from Uphaz,

The work of a craftsman and of the hands of a goldsmith;

Blue and purple are their clothing;

They are all the ^dwork of wise craftsmen.

¹⁰But Yahweh is the ^atrue God;

He is the ^bliving God and the ^ceverlasting King.

At His wrath the ^dearth quakes,

And the nations cannot ^eendure His indignation.

¹¹¹Thus you shall say to them, “The ^agods that did not make the heavens and the earth will ^bperish from the earth and from under ²the heavens.”

¹²It is ^aHe who made the earth by His power,

Who ^bestablished the world by His wisdom;

And by His understanding He has ^cstretched out the heavens.

¹³When He gives forth His ^avoice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens,

And He causes the ^bclouds to ascend from the end of the earth;

He makes lightning for the rain,

And brings out the ^cwind from His storehouses.

¹⁴Every man is ^asenseless, devoid of knowledge;

Every goldsmith is put to shame by his graven images;

For his molten images are a lie,

And there is no breath in them.

¹⁵They are ^avanity, a work of mockery;

In the ^btime of their punishment they will perish.

¹⁶The ^aportion of Jacob is not like these;

For the ^1bMaker of all is He,

And ^cIsrael is the tribe of His inheritance;

^dYahweh of hosts is His name.

^17aGather up your bundle from the ground,

You who inhabit a land under siege!

¹⁸For thus says Yahweh,

“Behold, I am ^aslinging out the inhabitants of the land

At this time,

And will cause them distress,

That they may find it.”

^19aWoe is me, because of my ¹injury!

My ^bwound is desperately sick.

But I said, “Truly this is a sickness,

And I ^cmust bear it.”

²⁰My ^atent is destroyed,

And all my ropes are torn out;

My ^bsons have gone from me and are no more.

There is ^cno one to stretch out my tent again

Or to set up my curtains.

²¹For the shepherds have become senseless

And ^ahave not sought Yahweh;

Therefore they have not prospered,

And ^ball their flock is scattered.

²²The sound of a ^areport! Behold, it comes—

A great quaking ^bout of the land of the north—

To ^cmake the cities of Judah

A desolation, a haunt of jackals.

²³I know, O Yahweh, that ^aa man’s way is not in himself,

^bNor is it in a man who walks to ¹direct his steps.

^24aDiscipline me, O Yahweh, but with justice;

Not with Your anger, lest You ¹bring me to nothing.

^25aPour out Your wrath on the nations that ^bdo not know You

And on the families that ^cdo not call Your name,

For they have devoured Jacob;

They have ^ddevoured him and consumed him

And have made desolate his ¹abode.