Jeremiah 10
¹ Hear ye the word which the LORD speaketh unto you, O house of Israel:
² thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the nations, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the nations are dismayed at them.
³ For the customs of the peoples are vanity: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman with the axe.
⁴ They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.
⁵ They are like a palm tree, of turned work, and speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither is it in them to do good.
⁶ There is none like unto thee, O LORD; thou art great, and thy name is great in might.
⁷ Who would not fear thee, O King of the nations? for to thee doth it appertain: forasmuch as among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their royal estate, there is none like unto thee.
⁸ But they are together brutish and foolish: the instruction of idols, it is but a stock.
⁹ There is silver beaten into plates which is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the artificer and of the hands of the goldsmith; blue and purple for their clothing; they are all the work of cunning men.
¹⁰ But the LORD is the true God; he is the living God, and an everlasting king: at his wrath the earth trembleth, and the nations are not able to abide his indignation.
¹¹ Thus shall ye say unto them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, these shall perish from the earth, and from under the heavens.
¹² He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding hath he stretched out the heavens:
¹³ when he uttereth his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; he maketh lightnings for the rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasuries.
¹⁴ Every man is become brutish and is without knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.
¹⁵ They are vanity, a work of delusion: in the time of their visitation they shall perish.
¹⁶ The portion of Jacob is not like these; for he is the former of all things; and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance: the LORD of hosts is his name.
¹⁷ Gather up thy wares out of the land, O thou that abidest in the siege.
¹⁸ For thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will sling out the inhabitants of the land at this time, and will distress them, that they may feel it.
¹⁹ Woe is me for my hurt! my wound is grievous: but I said, Truly this is my grief, and I must bear it.
²⁰ My tent is spoiled, and all my cords are broken: my children are gone forth of me, and they are not: there is none to stretch forth my tent any more, and to set up my curtains.
²¹ For the shepherds are become brutish, and have not inquired of the LORD: therefore they have not prospered, and all their flocks are scattered.
²² The voice of a rumour, behold it cometh, and a great commotion out of the north country, to make the cities of Judah a desolation, a dwelling place of jackals.
²³ O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.
²⁴ O LORD, correct me, but with judgment; not in thine anger, lest thou bring me to nothing.
²⁵ Pour out thy fury upon the heathen that know thee not, and upon the families that call not on thy name: for they have devoured Jacob, yea, they have devoured him and consumed him, and have laid waste his habitation.