Jeremiah 10–11

The Lord and the Idols

10Family of Israel, listen to what the Lord says to you. ²This is what he says:

“Don’t live like the people from other nations,

and don’t be afraid of special signs in the sky,

even though the other nations are afraid of them.

³The customs of other people are worth nothing.

Their idols are just wood cut from the forest,

shaped by a worker with his chisel.

⁴They decorate their idols with silver and gold.

With hammers and nails they fasten them down

so they won’t fall over.

⁵Their idols are like scarecrows in melon fields;

they cannot talk.

Since they cannot walk,

they must be carried.

Do not be afraid of those idols,

because they can’t hurt you,

and they can’t help you either.”

⁶Lord, there is no one like you.

You are great,

and your name is great and powerful.

⁷Everyone should respect you, King of the nations;

you deserve respect.

Of all the wise people among the nations

and in all the kingdoms,

none of them is as wise as you.

⁸Those wise people are stupid and foolish.

Their teachings come from worthless wooden idols.

⁹Hammered silver is brought from Tarshish

and gold from Uphaz,

so the idols are made by craftsmen and goldsmiths.

They put blue and purple clothes on the idols.

All these things are made by skilled workers.

¹⁰But the Lord is the only true God.

He is the only living God, the King forever.

The earth shakes when he is angry,

and the nations cannot stand up to his anger.

¹¹“Tell them this message: ‘These gods did not make heaven and earth; they will be destroyed and disappear from heaven and earth.’ ”

¹²God made the earth by his power.

He used his wisdom to build the world

and his understanding to stretch out the skies.

¹³When he thunders, the waters in the skies roar.

He makes clouds rise in the sky all over the earth.

He sends lightning with the rain

and brings out the wind from his storehouses.

¹⁴People are so stupid and know so little.

Goldsmiths are made ashamed by their idols,

because those statues are only false gods.

They have no breath in them.

¹⁵They are worth nothing; people make fun of them.

When they are judged, they will be destroyed.

¹⁶But God, who is Jacob’s Portion, is not like the idols.

He made everything,

and he chose Israel to be his special people.

The Lord All-Powerful is his name.

Destruction Is Coming

¹⁷Get everything you own and prepare to leave,

you people who are trapped by your enemies.

¹⁸This is what the Lord says:

“At this time I will throw out the people who live in this land.

I will bring trouble to them

so that they may be captured.”

¹⁹How terrible it will be for me because of my injury.

My wound cannot be healed.

Yet I told myself,

“This is my sickness; I must suffer through it.”

²⁰My tent is ruined,

and all its ropes are broken.

My children have gone away and left me.

No one is left to put up my tent again

or to set up a shelter for me.

²¹The shepherds are stupid

and don’t ask the Lord for advice.

So they do not have success,

and all their flocks are scattered and lost.

²²Listen! The news is coming.

A loud noise comes from the north

to make the towns of Judah an empty desert

and a home for wild dogs!

Jeremiah’s Prayer

²³Lord, I know that our lives don’t really belong to us.

We can’t control our own lives.

²⁴Lord, correct me, but be fair.

Don’t punish me in your anger,

or you will destroy me.

²⁵Pour out your anger on other nations

that do not know you

and do not pray to you.

Those nations have destroyed the people of Jacob.

They have eaten them up completely

and destroyed their homeland.

The Agreement Is Broken

11These are the words that the Lord spoke to Jeremiah: ²“Listen to the words of this agreement and tell them to the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem. ³Tell them this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Cursed is the person who does not obey the words of this agreement ⁴that I made with your ancestors when I brought them out of Egypt. Egypt was like a furnace for melting iron!’ I told them, ‘Obey me and do everything I command you. Then you will be my people, and I will be your God. ⁵Then I will keep the promise I made to your ancestors to give them a fertile land.’ And you are living in that country today.”

I answered, “Amen, Lord.”

⁶The Lord said to me, “Announce this message in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: ‘Listen to the words of this agreement and obey them. ⁷I warned your ancestors to obey me when I brought them out of Egypt. I have warned them again and again to this very day: “Obey me!” ⁸But your ancestors did not listen to me. They were stubborn and did what their own evil hearts wanted. So I made all the curses of this agreement come upon them. I commanded them to obey the agreement, but they did not.’ ”

⁹Then the Lord said to me, “I know the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem have made secret plans. ¹⁰They have gone back to the same sins their ancestors did. Their ancestors refused to listen to my message and followed and worshiped other gods instead. The families of Israel and Judah have broken the agreement I made with their ancestors. ¹¹So this is what the Lord says: ‘I will soon bring a disaster on the people of Judah which they will not be able to escape. They will cry to me for help, but I will not listen to them. ¹²The people living in the towns of Judah and the city of Jerusalem will pray to their idols to whom they burn incense. But those idols will not be able to help when disaster comes. ¹³Look, people of Judah, you have as many idols as there are towns in Judah. You have built as many altars to burn incense to that shameful god Baal as there are streets in Jerusalem.’

¹⁴“As for you, Jeremiah, don’t pray for these people or cry out for them or ask anything for them. I will not listen when they call to me in the time of their trouble.

¹⁵“What is my beloved Judah doing in my Temple

when she makes many evil plans?

Do you think animal sacrifices will stop your punishment?

When you do your evil, then you are happy.”

¹⁶The Lord called you “a leafy olive tree,

with beautiful fruit and shape.”

But with the roar of a strong storm

he will set that tree on fire,

and its branches will be burned up.

¹⁷The Lord All-Powerful, who planted you, has announced that disaster will come to you. This is because the families of Israel and Judah have done evil and have made him angry by burning incense to Baal.

Evil Plans Against Jeremiah

¹⁸The Lord showed me that people were making plans against me. Because he showed me what they were doing, I knew they were against me. ¹⁹Before this, I was like a gentle lamb waiting to be butchered. I did not know they had made plans against me, saying:

“Let us destroy the tree and its fruit.

Let’s kill him so people will forget him.”

²⁰But, Lord All-Powerful, you are a fair judge.

You know how to test peoples’ hearts and minds.

I have told you what I have against them.

So let me see you give them the punishment they deserve.

²¹So the Lord speaks about the people from Anathoth who plan to kill Jeremiah and say, “Don’t prophesy in the name of the Lord, or we will kill you!” ²²So this is what the Lord All-Powerful says: “I will soon punish the men from Anathoth. Their young men will die in war. Their sons and daughters will die from hunger. ²³No one from the city of Anathoth will be left alive, because I will cause a disaster to happen to them that year.”