A Satire on Idolatry

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

2 Thus says the Lord,

“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;

3 For the customs of the peoples are 1adelusion;

Because bit is wood cut from the forest,

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

4 “They adecorate it with silver and with gold;

They bfasten 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 walk!

Do not fear them,

For they ccan do no harm,

Nor can they do any good.”

6 aThere is none like You, O Lord;

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

7 aWho 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.

8 But they are altogether astupid and foolish

In their discipline of 1delusion—2their idol is wood!

9 Beaten asilver is brought from bTarshish,

And cgold from Uphaz,

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

Violet and purple are their clothing;

They are all the dwork of skilled men.

10 But the Lord 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.

11 1Thus you shall say to them, “The agods that did not make the heavens and the earth will bperish from the earth and from under the 2heavens.”

12 It 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.

13 When He utters 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.

14 Every man is astupid, devoid of knowledge;

Every goldsmith is put to shame by his 1idols;

For his molten images are deceitful,

And there is no breath in them.

15 They are aworthless, a work of mockery;

In the btime of their punishment they will perish.

16 The aportion of Jacob is not like these;

For the 1bMaker of all is He,

And cIsrael is the tribe of His inheritance;

The dLord of hosts is His name.