Jeremiah 10
10
The Lord Is the Only True God
1People of Israel, listen to what the Lord is telling you. 2He says,
“Do not follow the practices of other nations.
Do not be terrified by warnings in the sky.
Do not be afraid, even though the nations are terrified by them.
3The practices of these nations are worthless.
People cut a tree out of the forest.
A skilled worker shapes the wood with a sharp tool.
4Others decorate it with silver and gold.
They use a hammer to nail it to the floor.
They want to keep it from falling down.
5The statues of their gods can’t speak.
They are like scarecrows in a field of cucumbers.
Their statues have to be carried around
because they can’t walk.
So do not be afraid of their gods.
They can’t do you any harm.
And they can’t do you any good either.”
6 Lord, no one is like you.
You are great.
You are mighty and powerful.
7King of the nations,
everyone should have respect for you.
That’s what people should give you.
Among all the wise leaders of the nations
there is no one like you.
No one can compare with you in all their kingdoms.
8All of them are foolish. They don’t have any sense.
They think they are taught by worthless wooden gods.
9Hammered silver is brought from Tarshish.
Gold is brought from Uphaz.
People skilled in working with wood and gold make a statue.
Then they put blue and purple clothes on it.
The whole thing is made by skilled workers.
10But you are the only true God.
You are the only living God.
You are the King who rules forever.
When you are angry, the earth trembles with fear.
The nations can’t stand up under your anger.
11The Lord speaks to the Jews living in Babylon. He says, “Here is what you must tell the people of the nations. Tell them, ‘Your gods did not make the heavens and the earth. In fact, these gods will disappear from the earth. They will vanish from under the heavens.’ ”
12But God used his power to make the earth.
His wisdom set the world in place.
His understanding spread out the heavens.
13When he thunders, the waters in the heavens roar.
He makes clouds rise from one end of the earth to the other.
He sends lightning along with the rain.
He brings the wind out from his storerooms.
14No one has any sense or knows anything at all.
Everyone who works with gold is put to shame by his gods.
The metal gods he has made are fakes.
They can’t even breathe.
15They are worthless things that people make fun of.
When the Lord judges them, they will be destroyed.
16The God of Jacob is not like them.
He gives his people everything they need.
He made everything that exists.
And that includes Israel.
They are the people who belong to him.
His name is the Lord Who Rules Over All.
The Land Will Be Destroyed
17People of Jerusalem, your enemies have surrounded you.
They are attacking you.
So gather up what belongs to you.
Then leave the land.
18The Lord says,
“I am about to throw out of this land
everyone who lives in it.
I will bring trouble on them.
They will be captured.”
19How terrible it will be for me!
I’ve been wounded!
And my wound can’t be healed!
In spite of that, I said to myself,
“I’m sick. But I’ll have to put up with it.”
20Jerusalem is like a tent that has been destroyed.
All its ropes have snapped.
My people have gone away from me.
Now no one is left to set up my tent.
I have no one to set up my shelter.
21The leaders of my people are like shepherds
who don’t have any sense.
They don’t ask the Lord for advice.
That’s why they don’t succeed.
And that’s why their whole flock
is scattered like sheep.
22Listen! A message is coming!
I hear the sound of a great army
marching down from the north!
It will turn Judah’s towns into a desert.
They will become a home for wild dogs.
Jeremiah Prays to the Lord
23 Lord, I know that a person doesn’t control their own life.
They don’t direct their own steps.
24Correct me, Lord, but please be fair.
Don’t correct me when you are angry.
If you do, nothing will be left of me.
25Pour out your great anger on the nations.
They don’t pay any attention to you.
They refuse to worship you.
They have destroyed the people of Jacob.
They’ve wiped them out completely.
They’ve also destroyed the land they lived in.
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Jeremiah 10: NIrV
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Holy Bible, New International Reader’s Version®, NIrV®
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Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Jeremiah 10
10
1 Listen to the word that the Lord has spoken concerning you, O house of Israel.
2 Thus says the Lord: "Do not choose to learn according to the ways of the Gentiles. And do not be willing to dread the signs of heaven, which the Gentiles fear.
3 For the laws of the people are empty. For the work of the hand of the craftsman has cut a tree from the forest with an axe.
4 He has adorned it with silver and gold. He has put it together with nail and hammer, so that it will not fall apart.
5 They have been fabricated in the likeness of a palm tree, and they will not speak. They must be carried to be moved, because they do not have the ability to walk. Therefore, do not be willing to fear them, for they can do neither evil nor good."
6 O Lord, there is nothing similar to you. You are great, and your name is great in strength.
7 Who will not fear you, O King of the nations? For honor is yours. Among all the wise of the nations, and within all their kingdoms, there is nothing similar to you.
8 Together, they will all be proven to be unwise and foolish. The doctrine of their vanity is made of wood.
9 Rolled silver is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz. It is the work of a craftsman, and of the hand of a coppersmith. Hyacinth and purple is their clothing. All these things are the work of artists.
10 But the Lord is the true God. He is the living God and the everlasting King. Before his indignation, the earth will shake. And the Gentiles will not be able to withstand his threats.
11 "And so, you shall speak to them in this way: The gods that have not made heaven and earth, let them perish from the earth and from among those places which are under heaven.
12 He made the earth by his power, he prepared the world in his wisdom, and he stretched out the heavens with his understanding.
13 At his voice, he grants a multitude of waters in the heavens, and he lifts up the clouds from the ends of the earth. He causes the lightning with the rain, and he leads forth the wind from his storehouses.
14 Every man has become a fool concerning knowledge; every artist has been confounded by his graven image. For what he has formed is false, and there is no spirit in these things.
15 These things are empty, and they are a work deserving of ridicule. In the time of their visitation, they will perish.
16 Jacob's portion is not like their portion. For his portion is from the One who formed all things. And Israel is the staff of his inheritance. The Lord of hosts is his name.
17 Gather your shame from the earth, you who are living under siege."
18 For thus says the Lord: "Behold, in this turn, I will cast the inhabitants of the land far away. And I will afflict them no matter where they may be found."
19 Woe to me, concerning my destruction! My wound is very grievous. And yet I said: Clearly, this infirmity is mine, and I will carry it.
20 My tent has been destroyed. All my cords have been broken. My sons have gone away from me; they did not remain. There is no one to stretch out my tent any more, nor to set up my curtains.
21 For the pastors have acted foolishly, and they have not sought the Lord. Because of this, they have not understood, and all their flock has been dispersed.
22 Behold, the sound of a voice approaches, a great commotion from the land of the north: so that he may make the cities of Judah into a wilderness and into a dwelling place for serpents.
23 I know, O Lord, that the way of man is not his own. Neither is it given to man to walk and to direct his own steps.
24 Correct me, O Lord, yet truly, do so with judgment, and not in your fury. Otherwise, you will reduce me to nothing.
25 Pour out your indignation upon the nations that have not known you, and upon the provinces that have not invoked your name. For they have fed upon Jacob, and devoured him, and consumed him, and they have utterly destroyed his honor.
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