Jeremiah

¹ Hear the word that the LORD speaks to you, O house of Israel. ² This is what the LORD says:

“Do not learn the ways of the nations

or be terrified by the signs in the heavens,

though the nations themselves are terrified by them.

³ For the customs of the peoples are worthless;

they cut down a tree from the forest;

it is shaped with a chisel

by the hands of a craftsman.

⁴ They adorn it with silver and gold

and fasten it with hammer and nails,

so that it will not totter.

⁵ Like scarecrows in a cucumber patch,

their idols cannot speak.

They must be carried

because they cannot walk.

Do not fear them, for they can do no harm,

and neither can they do any good.”

⁶ There is none like You, O LORD.

You are great, and Your name is mighty in power.

⁷ Who would not fear You, O King of nations?

This is Your due.

For among all the wise men of the nations,

and in all their kingdoms,

there is none like You.

⁸ But they are altogether senseless and foolish,

instructed by worthless idols made of wood!

⁹ Hammered silver is brought from Tarshish,

and gold from Uphaz—

the work of a craftsman

from the hands of a goldsmith.

Their clothes are blue and purple,

all fashioned by skilled workers.

¹⁰ But the LORD is the true God;

He is the living God and eternal King.

The earth quakes at His wrath,

and the nations cannot endure His indignation.

¹¹ Thus you are to tell them: “These gods, who have made neither the heavens nor the earth, will perish from this earth and from under these heavens.” ^[a]

¹² The LORD made the earth by His power;

He established the world by His wisdom

and stretched out the heavens by His understanding.

¹³ When He thunders,

the waters in the heavens roar;

He causes the clouds to rise

from the ends of the earth.

He generates the lightning with the rain

and brings forth the wind from His storehouses.

¹⁴ Every man is senseless and devoid of knowledge;

every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols.

For his molten images are a fraud,

and there is no breath in them.

¹⁵ They are worthless, a work to be mocked.

In the time of their punishment they will perish.

¹⁶ The Portion of Jacob is not like these,

for He is the Maker of all things,

and Israel is the tribe of His inheritance—

the LORD of Hosts is His name.

¹⁷ Gather up your belongings from this land, you who live under siege. ¹⁸ For this is what the LORD says:

“Behold, at this time I will sling out

the inhabitants of the land

and bring distress upon them

so that they may be captured.”

¹⁹ Woe to me because of my brokenness;

my wound is grievous!

But I said, “This is truly my sickness,

and I must bear it.”

²⁰ My tent is destroyed,

and all its ropes are snapped.

My sons have departed from me

and are no more.

I have no one left to pitch my tent

or set up my curtains.

²¹ For the shepherds have become senseless;

they do not seek the LORD.

Therefore they have not prospered,

and all their flock is scattered.

²² Listen! The sound of a report is coming—

a great commotion from the land to the north.

The cities of Judah will be made a desolation,

a haunt for jackals. ^[b]

²³ I know, O LORD, that a man’s way is not his own;

no one who walks directs his own steps.

²⁴ Correct me, O LORD,

but only with justice—

not in Your anger,

or You will bring me to nothing.

²⁵ Pour out Your wrath on the nations

that do not acknowledge You,

and on the families

that do not call on Your name.

For they have devoured Jacob;

they have consumed him and finished him off;

they have devastated his homeland.