Jeremiah 10:3–11

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.’ ”