Jeremiah 10–11

Idols and the True God

10Hear the word which the Lord speaks to you, O house of Israel.

²Thus says the Lord:

^a“Do not learn the way of the Gentiles;

Do not be dismayed at the signs of heaven,

For the Gentiles are dismayed at them.

³For the customs of the peoples are ¹futile;

For ^bone cuts a tree from the forest,

The work of the hands of the workman, with the ax.

⁴They decorate it with silver and gold;

They ^cfasten it with nails and hammers

So that it will not topple.

⁵They are upright, like a palm tree,

And ^dthey cannot speak;

They must be ^ecarried,

Because they cannot go by themselves.

Do not be afraid of them,

For ^fthey cannot do evil,

Nor can they do any good.”

⁶Inasmuch as there is none ^glike You, O Lord

(You are great, and Your name is great in might),

^7hWho would not fear You, O King of the nations?

For this is Your rightful due.

For ⁱamong all the wise men of the nations,

And in all their kingdoms,

There is none like You.

⁸But they are altogether ^jdull-hearted and foolish;

A wooden idol is a ²worthless doctrine.

⁹Silver is beaten into plates;

It is brought from Tarshish,

And ^kgold from Uphaz,

The work of the craftsman

And of the hands of the metalsmith;

Blue and purple are their clothing;

They are all ^lthe work of skillful men.

¹⁰But the Lord is the true God;

He is ^mthe living God and the ⁿeverlasting King.

At His wrath the earth will tremble,

And the nations will not be able to endure His indignation.

¹¹Thus you shall say to them: ^o“The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth ^pshall perish from the earth and from under these heavens.”

¹²He ^qhas made the earth by His power,

He has ^restablished the world by His wisdom,

And ^shas stretched out the heavens at His discretion.

^13tWhen He utters His voice,

There is a ³multitude of waters in the heavens:

^u“And He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth.

He makes lightning for the rain,

He brings the wind out of His treasuries.”

^14vEveryone is ^wdull-hearted, without knowledge;

^xEvery metalsmith is put to shame by an image;

^yFor his molded image is falsehood,

And there is no breath in them.

¹⁵They are futile, a work of errors;

In the time of their punishment they shall perish.

^16zThe Portion of Jacob is not like them,

For He is the Maker of all things,

And ^aIsrael is the tribe of His inheritance;

^bThe Lord of hosts is His name.

The Coming Captivity of Judah

^17cGather up your wares from the land,

O ⁴inhabitant of the fortress!

¹⁸For thus says the Lord:

“Behold, I will ^dthrow out at this time

The inhabitants of the land,

And will distress them,

^eThat they may find it so.”

^19fWoe is me for my hurt!

My wound is severe.

But I say, ^g“Truly this is an infirmity,

And ^hI must bear it.”

²⁰ⁱMy tent is plundered,

And all my cords are broken;

My children have gone from me,

And they are ^jno more.

There is no one to pitch my tent anymore,

Or set up my curtains.

²¹For the shepherds have become dull-hearted,

And have not sought the Lord;

Therefore they shall not prosper,

And all their flocks shall be ^kscattered.

²²Behold, the noise of the report has come,

And a great commotion out of the ^lnorth country,

To make the cities of Judah desolate, a ^mden of jackals.

²³O Lord, I know the ⁿway of man is not in himself;

It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps.

²⁴O Lord, ^ocorrect me, but with justice;

Not in Your anger, lest You bring me to nothing.

^25pPour out Your fury on the Gentiles, ^qwho do not know You,

And on the families who do not call on Your name;

For they have eaten up Jacob,

^rDevoured him and consumed him,

And made his dwelling place desolate.

The Broken Covenant

11The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, ²“Hear the words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem; ³and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ^a“Cursed is the man who does not obey the words of this covenant ⁴which I commanded your fathers in the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt, ^bfrom the iron furnace, saying, ^c‘Obey My voice, and do according to all that I command you; so shall you be My people, and I will be your God,’ ⁵that I may establish the ^doath which I have sworn to your fathers, to give them ^e‘a land flowing with milk and honey,’ as it is this day.” ’ ”

And I answered and said, ¹“So be it, Lord.”

⁶Then the Lord said to me, “Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying: ‘Hear the words of this covenant ^fand do them. ⁷For I earnestly exhorted your fathers in the day I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, until this day, ^grising early and exhorting, saying, “Obey My voice.” ^8hYet they did not obey or incline their ear, but ⁱeveryone ²followed the dictates of his evil heart; therefore I will bring upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but which they have not done.’ ”

⁹And the Lord said to me, ^j“A conspiracy has been found among the men of Judah and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ¹⁰They have turned back to ^kthe iniquities of their forefathers who refused to hear My words, and they have gone after other gods to serve them; the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken My covenant which I made with their fathers.”

¹¹Therefore thus says the Lord: “Behold, I will surely bring calamity on them which they will not be able to ³escape; and ^lthough they cry out to Me, I will not listen to them. ¹²Then the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem will go and ^mcry out to the gods to whom they offer incense, but they will not save them at all in the time of their trouble. ¹³For according to the number of your ⁿcities were your gods, O Judah; and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem you have set up altars to that shameful thing, altars to burn incense to Baal.

¹⁴“So ^odo not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer for them; for I will not hear them in the time that they cry out to Me because of their trouble.

¹⁵“What ^phas My beloved to do in My house,

Having ^qdone lewd deeds with many?

And ^rthe holy flesh has passed from you.

When you do evil, then you ^srejoice.

¹⁶The Lord called your name,

^tGreen Olive Tree, Lovely and of Good Fruit.

With the noise of a great tumult

He has kindled fire on it,

And its branches are broken.

¹⁷“For the Lord of hosts, ^uwho planted you, has pronounced doom against you for the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have done against themselves to provoke Me to anger in offering incense to Baal.”

Jeremiah’s Life Threatened

¹⁸Now the Lord gave me knowledge of it, and I know it; for You showed me their doings. ¹⁹But I was like a docile lamb brought to the slaughter; and I did not know that they had devised schemes against me, saying, “Let us destroy the tree with its fruit, ^vand let us cut him off from ^wthe land of the living, that his name may be remembered no more.”

²⁰But, O Lord of hosts,

You who judge righteously,

^xTesting the ⁴mind and the heart,

Let me see Your ^yvengeance on them,

For to You I have revealed my cause.

²¹“Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the men of ^zAnathoth who seek your life, saying, ^a‘Do not prophesy in the name of the Lord, lest you die by our hand’—²²therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Behold, I will punish them. The young men shall die by the sword, their sons and their daughters shall ^bdie by famine; ²³and there shall be no remnant of them, for I will bring catastrophe on the men of Anathoth, even ^cthe year of their punishment.’ ”