Jeremiah 10
1 Listen to the word the LORD has spoken to you, house of Israel.
2 This is what the LORD says: “Do not learn the ways of the nations, and do not be terrified by the signs in the sky, even though the nations are terrified by them.
3 For the customs of the peoples are nothing: they cut down a tree from the forest, and a craftsman works it with an ax.
4 They decorate it with silver and gold; they fasten the idol with nails and hammers so it will not wobble.
5 They are like scarecrows in a cucumber field: they cannot speak. They have to be carried, because they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of them, for they can do no harm, and they have no power to do good.”
6 There is no one like you, LORD. You are great, and your name is great in power.
7 Who would not fear you, King of the nations? That honor is due to you, for among all the wise of the nations and in all their kingdoms, there is no one like you.
8 They are all stupid and foolish; the instruction of their worthless idols is just wood.
9 Hammered silver is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz. They are the work of a craftsman and a goldsmith’s hands. Their clothing is blue and purple; all of it is the work of skilled artisans.
10 But the LORD is the true God; he is the living God and the eternal King. At his anger the earth trembles, and the nations cannot endure his fury.
11 Say this to them: “The gods that did not make the heavens and the earth will vanish from the earth and from under these heavens.”
12 He made the earth by his power, established the world by his wisdom, and stretched out the heavens by his understanding.
13 At the sound of his voice, the waters roar in the heavens. He brings up clouds from the ends of the earth, makes lightning for the rain, and brings the wind out of his storehouses.
14 Everyone is foolish and without knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his idol, because the image he casts is a lie, and there is no breath in it.
15 They are nothing, a mockery of workmanship; when the time comes to punish them, they will vanish.
16 Jacob’s portion is not like these, for he is the one who formed all things, and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance. The LORD of Armies is his name.
17 Gather your bundle from the ground, you who live under siege.
18 For this is what the LORD says: “This time I am about to hurl the inhabitants of the land far away and distress them, so they may be found.”
19 Woe to me because of my wound! My injury is severe. But I had said, “This is only an illness; I will bear it.”
20 My tent is destroyed, and all my cords are snapped. My children have left me and are gone; there is no one left to pitch my tent or raise my curtains.
21 For the shepherds have become foolish and have not sought the LORD. So they have not prospered, and their whole flock has scattered.
22 A report is coming: a great commotion from the land of the north, to make the cities of Judah desolate, a den of jackals.
23 I know, LORD, that a person’s way is not his own; it is not for the one who walks to direct his steps.
24 Discipline me, LORD, but with justice; not in your anger, or you will reduce me to nothing.
25 Pour out your fury on the nations that do not know you and on the clans that do not call on your name, for they have devoured Jacob, consumed him, and destroyed him, and laid waste his home.
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