Jeremiah 10

Hear the word the LORD has spoken concerning you, house of Israel. This is what the LORD says: “Do not learn the way of the nations, and do not be terrified by the signs of the heavens, though the nations are terrified by them. For the customs of the peoples are worthless: someone cuts a tree from the forest, and a craftsman’s hands work it with an adze. They adorn it with silver and gold;
they fasten it with nails and hammers so that it will not move. They are like scarecrows in a cucumber patch;
they cannot speak.
They must be carried, for they cannot walk.
Do not fear them, for they can do no harm, nor can they do any good.” There is none like you, LORD;
you are great, and your name is great in might. Who would not fear you, King of the nations?
For this is your due.
Among all the wise of the nations and in all their kingdoms, there is none like you. They are all senseless and foolish;
the instruction of idols is nothing but wood. Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of a craftsman and a goldsmith’s hands.
Blue and purple are their clothing;
they are all the work of skilled men. But the LORD is the true God;
he is the living God and the everlasting King.
At his wrath the earth trembles, and the nations cannot endure his indignation. You are to tell them, “The gods who did not make the heavens and the earth will perish from the earth and from beneath these heavens.” He made the earth by his power, established the world by his wisdom, and stretched out the heavens by his understanding. When his voice sounds, the waters roar in the heavens;
he raises clouds from the ends of the earth.
He makes lightning for the rain and brings the wind out of his storehouses. Every person is senseless, without knowledge;
every goldsmith is put to shame by his carved image, for his cast image is a lie, and there is no breath in them. They are worthless, a work of delusion;
at the time of their punishment they will perish. The Portion of Jacob is not like these, for he is the one who formed all things, and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance.
The LORD of hosts is his name. Gather your belongings from the ground, you who live under siege. For this is what the LORD says: “Look, this time I am slinging out the inhabitants of the land;
I will distress them so that they feel it.” Woe to me because of my brokenness!
My wound is grievous.
But I said, “Surely this is my sickness, and I must bear it.” My tent is destroyed, and all my cords are torn.
My children have gone from me and are no more.
There is no one to spread my tent again or raise its curtains. For the shepherds have become senseless and have not sought the LORD;
therefore they have not prospered, and all their flock is scattered. Listen, a report is coming!
A great uproar comes from the land of the north, to make the cities of Judah a desolation, a den of jackals. I know, LORD, that a person’s way is not his own;
it is not for a man who walks to direct his steps. Discipline me, LORD, but with justice, not in your anger, lest you bring me to nothing. Pour 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, devoured him and consumed him, and laid waste his dwelling.

Rights and attribution