Jeremiah 10–11

¹Hear ye the word, O house of Israel, That Jehovah hath spoken for you. ²Thus said Jehovah: Unto the way of the nations accustom not yourselves, And by the signs of the heavens be not affrighted, For the nations are affrighted by them. ³For the statutes of the peoples are vanity, For a tree from a forest hath one cut, Work of the hands of an artificer, with an axe, ⁴With silver and with gold they beautify it, With nails and with hammers they fix it, And it doth not stumble. ⁵As a palm they are stiff, and they speak not, They are surely borne, for they step not, Be not afraid of them, for they do no evil, Yea, also to do good is not in them. ⁶Because there is none like Thee, O Jehovah, Great art Thou, and great Thy name in might. ⁷Who doth not fear Thee, king of the nations? For to Thee it is becoming, For among all the wise of the nations, And in all their kingdom there is none like Thee. ⁸And in one they are brutish and foolish, An instruction of vanities is the tree itself. ⁹Spread-out silver from Tarshish is brought, And gold from Uphaz, Work of an artisan, and of the hands of a refiner, Blue and purple is their clothing, Work of the skilful—all of them. ¹⁰And Jehovah is a God of truth, He is a living God, and a king age-during, From His wrath shake doth the earth, And nations endure not His indignation. ¹¹Thus do ye say to them, The gods Who the heavens and earth have not made, They do perish from the earth, And from under these heavens. ¹²The maker of the earth by His power, The establisher of the world by His wisdom, Who, by His understanding, stretched forth the heavens, ¹³At the voice He giveth forth, A multitude of waters is in the heavens, And He causeth vapours to come up from the end of the earth, Lightnings for rain He hath made, And bringeth out wind from His treasures. ¹⁴Brutish is every man by knowledge, Put to shame is every refiner by a graven image, For false is his molten image. And there is no breath in them. ¹⁵Vanity are they, work of erring ones, In the time of their inspection they perish. ¹⁶Not like these is the Portion of Jacob, For framer of all things is He, And Israel is the rod of His inheritance, Jehovah of Hosts is His name.

¹⁷Gather from the land thy merchandise, O dweller in the bulwark, ¹⁸For thus said Jehovah: Lo, I am slinging out the inhabitants of the land at this time, And have been an adversary to them, So that they are found out. ¹⁹Woe to me for my breaking, Grievious hath been my smiting, And I said, Only, this is my sickness, and I bear it. ²⁰My tent hath been spoiled, And all my cords have been broken, My sons have gone out from me, and they are not, There is none stretching out any more my tent, And raising up my curtains. ²¹For the shepherds have become brutish, And Jehovah they have not sought, Therefore they have not acted wisely, And all their flock is scattered. ²²A voice of a report, lo, it hath come, Even a great shaking from the north country, To make the cities of Judah a desolation, A habitation of dragons. ²³I have known, O Jehovah, that not of man is his way, Not of man the going and establishing of his step. ²⁴Chastise me, O Jehovah, only in judgment, Not in Thine anger, lest Thou make me small. ²⁵Pour out Thy fury on the nations that have not known Thee, And on the families that have not called in Thy name, For they have eaten up Jacob, Yea, they have eaten him up, yea, they consume him, And his habitation they have made desolate!

Chapter 11

¹The word that hath been unto Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying: ²‘Hear ye the words of this covenant, and ye have spoken unto the men of Judah, and unto the inhabitants of Jerusalem, ³and thou hast said unto them, Thus said Jehovah God of Israel: Cursed is the man who doth not obey the words of this covenant, ⁴That I commanded your fathers, In the day of My bringing them out from the land of Egypt, Out of the iron furnace, saying, Hearken to My voice, and ye have done them, According to all that I command you, And ye have been to Me for a people, And I am to you for God, ⁵In order to establish the oath that I have sworn to your fathers, To give to them a land flowing with milk and honey, as this day. And I answer and say, ‘Amen, O Jehovah.’ ⁶And Jehovah saith unto me, ‘Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying: Hear ye the words of this covenant, And ye have done them. ⁷For I certainly testified against your fathers, In the day of My bringing them up out of the land of Egypt—till this day, Rising early and testifying, saying, Hearken to My voice, ⁸And they have not hearkened nor inclined their ear, And they walk each in the stubbornness of their evil heart, And I bring on them all the words of this covenant, That I commanded to do, and they did not.’ ⁹And Jehovah saith unto me: ‘A conspiracy is found in the men of Judah, And in the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ¹⁰They have turned back to the iniquities of their first fathers, 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 made void My covenant, that I made with their fathers.

¹¹Therefore thus said Jehovah: Lo, I am bringing in unto them evil, That they are not able to go out from, And they have cried unto Me, And I do not hearken unto them. ¹²And the cities of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem have gone, And they have cried unto the gods, To whom they are making perfume, And they give no deliverance at all to them, In the time of their vexation. ¹³For—the number of thy cities have been thy gods, O Judah, And—the number of the streets of Jerusalem Ye have placed altars to a shameful thing, Altars to make perfume to Baal. ¹⁴And thou, thou dost not pray for this people, Nor dost thou lift up for them cry and prayer, For I do not hearken in the time of their calling unto Me for their vexation. ¹⁵What—to My beloved in My house, Her doing wickedness with many, And the holy flesh do pass over from thee? When thou dost evil, then thou exultest. ¹⁶‘An olive, green, fair, of goodly fruit,’ Hath Jehovah called thy name, At the noise of a great tumult He hath kindled fire against it, And broken have been its thin branches. ¹⁷And Jehovah of Hosts, who is planting thee, Hath spoken evil concerning thee, For the evil of the house of Israel, and of the house of Judah, That they have done to themselves, To provoke Me to anger, to make perfume to Baal.

¹⁸And, O Jehovah, cause me to know, and I know, Then Thou hast showed me their doings. ¹⁹And I am as a trained lamb brought to slaughter, And I have not known That against me they have devised devices: We destroy the tree with its food, and cut him off From the land of the living, And his name is not remembered again. ²⁰And O Jehovah of Hosts, judging righteousness, Trying reins and heart, I do see Thy vengeance against them, For unto Thee I have revealed my cause.’ ²¹Therefore, thus said Jehovah concerning the men of Anathoth, who are seeking thy life, saying: Do not prophesy in the name of Jehovah, And thou dost not die by our hands. ²²Therefore, thus said Jehovah of Hosts: ‘Lo, I am seeing after them, The chosen ones die by sword, Their sons and their daughters die by famine, ²³And they have no remnant, For I bring evil unto the men of Anathoth, The year of their inspection!’

Chapter 12