Yirmeyahu 10 ירמיהו י׳

Hear the word which the Lord speaks to you, O house of Yisra᾽el:

thus says 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.

For the customs of the people are vanity: a tree out of the forest is cut down, the work of the hands of the workman, with the ax.

They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.

They are like a rigid post, and they cannot speak; they must needs be carried, because they cannot walk. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither is it in them to do good.

Forasmuch as there is none like Thee, O Lord; Thou art great, and Thy name is great in might.

Who would not fear Thee, O King of the nations? for to Thee it is fitting: for among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like Thee.

Stupid and senseless are they all: the teaching of their vain idols is but – wood!

Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Ufaz, the work of the crafts-man, and of the hands of the founder: blue and purple is their clothing: they are all the work of skilful men.

But the Lord is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king: at his anger the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation.

Thus shall you say to them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens.

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

When his voice resounds with the great mass of water in the heavens, and he raises vapours from the ends of the earth; when he makes lightning flashes among the rain, and brings forth the wind out of his storehouses:

every man becomes stupid, without knowledge: every founder is put to shame by his carved idol: for his molten image is false, and there is no breath in them.

They are vanity, the work of delusion: in the time of their punishment they shall perish.

The portion of Ya῾aqov is not like them: for he is the former of all things; and Yisra᾽el is the tribe of his inheritance: The Lord of hosts is his name.

Gather up thy wares out of the land, O inhabitant of the besieged city.

For thus says the Lord, Behold, I will sling out the inhabitants of the land at this time, and will distress them, that they may feel it.

Woe is me for my hurt! my wound is grievous: but I said, Truly this is the affliction, and I must bear it.

My tent is spoiled, and all my cords are broken: my children are gone out of me, and they are not: there is none to stretch forth my tent any more, and to set up my curtains.

For the shepherds are become brutish, and have not sought the Lord: therefore they have not prospered, and all their flocks are scattered.

Behold, the noise of the report is come, and a great commotion out of the north country, to make the cities of Yehuda desolate, and a den of jackals.

O Lord, I know that a man’s way is not his own; it is not in man to direct his steps as he walks.

O Lord, correct me, but in due measure, not in Thy anger, lest Thou bring me to nothing.

Pour out Thy fury upon the nations that know Thee not, and upon the families that call not on Thy name: for they have devoured Ya῾aqov, devoured him, and consumed him, and have made his habitation desolate.