Jeremiah 10

1 “Hear the Lord’s word 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 afraid of the signs of the sky, though the nations fear them to their face.”

3 “For the practices of the nations are empty. It is a tree cut from the forest, the work of a carpenter, a cast image.”

4 “They are dressed up with silver and gold; they fasten them with hammers and nails, and they will not move.”

5 “They are worked silver — they cannot walk. Plated silver comes from Tarshish, gold from Mophaz; it is all the work of goldsmiths, the work of craftsmen. They clothe them in blue and purple. They must be lifted and carried, for they cannot step. Do not fear them: they cannot do harm, and there is no good in them.”

11 “This is what you are to say to them: ‘Let the gods who did not make the sky and the earth perish from the earth and from under this sky.’”

12 “It is the Lord who made the earth by his strength, who set the world upright by his wisdom, and by his understanding stretched out the sky,”

13 “and set a mass of water in the sky. He brought up clouds from the end of the earth; he made lightning for the rain, and he brought light out of his storehouses.”

14 “Every man has been made a fool, far from knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his own carved images, for what he cast is a lie — there is no breath in them.”

15 “They are empty — works to be laughed at; at the time of their reckoning they will perish.”

16 “Jacob’s portion is nothing like these, for the one who formed all things — he is Jacob’s inheritance. The Lord is his name.”

17 “He has gathered your substance in from outside, you who live among choice things.”

18 “For this is what the Lord says: Look, I am tripping up those who live in this land with affliction, so that your wound may be found out.”

19 “Woe for your shattering! Your blow is painful. And I said, ‘Surely this is my wound, and it has overtaken me.’”

20 “My tent is ruined; it has perished, and all my covers are torn apart. My sons and my sheep are no more; there is no place left for my tent, no place for my covers.”

21 “For the shepherds became fools and did not seek the Lord; therefore the whole flock at pasture understood nothing and was scattered.”

22 “Listen — a report is coming, and a great shaking from the land of the north, to make the cities of Judah a ruin and a bedding place for ostriches.”

23 “I know, Lord, that a person’s way is not his own, and no one can direct his own steps.”

24 “Discipline us, Lord, but with judgment, not in anger, or else you will reduce us to only a few.”

25 “Pour out your wrath on the nations that do not know you and the families that have not called on your name, because they have devoured Jacob, consumed him, and left his pasture desolate.”