Jeremiah 10

1Hear the word that Yahweh has spoken concerning you, O house of Israel.

2Thus says Yahweh: Do not learn the way of the nations, and do not be dismayed at the signs of the heavens, because the nations are dismayed at them.

3For the customs of the peoples are vanity, for a tree is cut from the forest, the work of the hands of a craftsman with an axe.

4They decorate it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers so that it will not totter.

5They are like a scarecrow in a cucumber field, and they cannot speak; they must be carried, because they cannot walk. Do not fear them, for they cannot do harm, nor can they do good.

6There is none like you, O Yahweh; you are great, and your name is great in might.

7Who would not fear you, O King of the nations? For this is your due; for among all the wise men of the nations and in all their kingdoms, there is none like you.

8But together they are stupid and foolish; the instruction of idols is wood.

9Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of a craftsman and of the hands of a goldsmith. Blue and purple are their clothing; all of them are the work of skilled men.

10But Yahweh is the true God; he is the living God and the everlasting King. At his wrath the earth quakes, and the nations cannot endure his indignation.

11Thus you shall say to them: “The gods that did not make the heavens and the earth will perish from the earth and from under these heavens.”

12He made the earth by his power; he established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding he stretched out the heavens.

13At the sound of his voice, there is a roar of waters in the heavens, and he makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth; he makes lightning for the rain, and brings out the wind from his storehouses.

14Every man is stupid, without knowledge; every metalworker is put to shame by his idol, for his cast image is a lie, and there is no breath in them.

15They are vanity, a work of mockery; at the time of their punishment they will perish.

16Not like these is the Portion of Jacob, for he is the Former of all things, and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance; Yahweh of hosts is his name.

17Gather up your bundle from the land, you who dwell under siege.

18For thus says Yahweh: Behold, I am slinging out the inhabitants of the land at this time, and I will press them hard so that they may be found.

19Woe is me because of my brokenness; my wound is grievous. But I said, “Surely this is my sickness, and I must bear it.”

20My tent is destroyed, and all my ropes are torn away. My sons have gone from me, and they are no more. There is no one left to stretch out my tent again and set up my curtains.

21For the shepherds have become stupid, and they have not sought Yahweh; therefore they have not acted wisely, and all their flock is scattered.

22The sound of a report—look, it is coming!—a great commotion from the land of the north, to make the cities of Judah a desolation, a haunt of jackals.

23I know, O Yahweh, that a man's way is not his own; it is not for a man who walks to direct his steps.

24Discipline me, Yahweh, but with justice, not in your anger, lest you diminish me.

25Pour out your wrath on the nations that do not know you, and on the clans that do not call on your name; for they have devoured Jacob, they have devoured him and consumed him, and they have laid waste his habitation.