Jeremiah 10:14-25

People are so stupid and know so little. Goldsmiths are made ashamed by their idols, because those statues are only false gods. They have no breath in them. They are worth nothing; people make fun of them. When they are judged, they will be destroyed. But God, who is Jacob’s Portion, is not like the idols. He made everything, and he chose Israel to be his special people. The LORD All-Powerful is his name. Get everything you own and prepare to leave, you people who are trapped by your enemies. This is what the LORD says: “At this time I will throw out the people who live in this land. I will bring trouble to them so that they may be captured.” How terrible it will be for me because of my injury. My wound cannot be healed. Yet I told myself, “This is my sickness; I must suffer through it.” My tent is ruined, and all its ropes are broken. My children have gone away and left me. No one is left to put up my tent again or to set up a shelter for me. The shepherds are stupid and don’t ask the LORD for advice. So they do not have success, and all their flocks are scattered and lost. Listen! The news is coming. A loud noise comes from the north to make the towns of Judah an empty desert and a home for wild dogs! LORD, I know that our lives don’t really belong to us. We can’t control our own lives. LORD, correct me, but be fair. Don’t punish me in your anger, or you will destroy me. Pour out your anger on other nations that do not know you and do not pray to you. Those nations have destroyed the people of Jacob. They have eaten them up completely and destroyed their homeland.