Jeremiah 10

¹Jeremiah 10:1. Hear the word that the LORD speaks to you, O house of Israel.²Jeremiah 10:2. 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.³Jeremiah 10:3. 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.⁴Jeremiah 10:4. They adorn it with silver and gold and fasten it with hammer and nails, so that it will not totter.⁵Jeremiah 10:5. 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.”⁶Jeremiah 10:6. There is none like You, O LORD. You are great, and Your name is mighty in power.⁷Jeremiah 10:7. 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.⁸Jeremiah 10:8. But they are altogether senseless and foolish, instructed by worthless idols made of wood!⁹Jeremiah 10:9. 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.¹⁰Jeremiah 10:10. 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.¹¹Jeremiah 10:11. 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.”¹²Jeremiah 10:12. The LORD made the earth by His power; He established the world by His wisdom and stretched out the heavens by His understanding.¹³Jeremiah 10:13. 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.¹⁴Jeremiah 10:14. 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.¹⁵Jeremiah 10:15. They are worthless, a work to be mocked. In the time of their punishment they will perish.¹⁶Jeremiah 10:16. 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.

¹⁷Jeremiah 10:17. Gather up your belongings from this land, you who live under siege.¹⁸Jeremiah 10:18. 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.”

¹⁹Jeremiah 10:19. Woe to me because of my brokenness; my wound is grievous! But I said, “This is truly my sickness, and I must bear it.”²⁰Jeremiah 10:20. 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.²¹Jeremiah 10:21. For the shepherds have become senseless; they do not seek the LORD. Therefore they have not prospered, and all their flock is scattered.²²Jeremiah 10:22. Listen! The sound of a report is coming—a great commotion from the land to the north. It will make the cities of Judah a desolation, a haunt for jackals.²³Jeremiah 10:23. I know, O LORD, that a man’s way is not his own; no one who walks directs his own steps.²⁴Jeremiah 10:24. Correct me, O LORD, but only with justice—not in Your anger, or You will bring me to nothing.²⁵Jeremiah 10:25. 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.