Jeremiah 10
10
Idols and the True God
1Hear the word which the Lord speaks to you, O house of Israel.
2Thus says the Lord:
#(Lev. 18:3; 20:23; Deut. 12:30)“Do not learn the way of the Gentiles;
Do not be dismayed at the signs of heaven,
For the Gentiles are dismayed at them.
3For the customs of the peoples are futile;
For #Is. 40:19; 45:20one cuts a tree from the forest,
The work of the hands of the workman, with the ax.
4They decorate it with silver and gold;
They #Is. 41:7fasten it with nails and hammers
So that it will not topple.
5They are upright, like a palm tree,
And #Ps. 115:5; Is. 46:7; Jer. 10:5; 1 Cor. 12:2they cannot speak;
They must be #Ps. 115:7; Is. 46:1, 7carried,
Because they cannot go by themselves.
Do not be afraid of them,
For #Is. 41:23, 24they cannot do evil,
Nor can they do any good.”
6Inasmuch as there is none #Ex. 15:11; Deut. 33:26; Ps. 86:8, 10; Is. 46:5–9; Jer. 10:16like You, O Lord
(You are great, and Your name is great in might),
7#Jer. 5:22; Rev. 15:4Who would not fear You, O King of the nations?
For this is Your rightful due.
For #Ps. 89:6among all the wise men of the nations,
And in all their kingdoms,
There is none like You.
8But they are altogether #Ps. 115:8; Hab. 2:18dull-hearted and foolish;
A wooden idol is a worthless doctrine.
9Silver is beaten into plates;
It is brought from Tarshish,
And #Dan. 10:5gold from Uphaz,
The work of the craftsman
And of the hands of the metalsmith;
Blue and purple are their clothing;
They are all #Ps. 115:4the work of skillful men.
10But the Lord is the true God;
He is #1 Tim. 6:17the living God and the #Ps. 10:16everlasting King.
At His wrath the earth will tremble,
And the nations will not be able to endure His indignation.
11Thus you shall say to them: #Ps. 96:5“The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth #Is. 2:18; Zeph. 2:11shall perish from the earth and from under these heavens.”
12He #Gen. 1:1, 6, 7; Jer. 51:15has made the earth by His power,
He has #Ps. 93:1established the world by His wisdom,
And #Job 9:8; Ps. 104:2; Is. 40:22has stretched out the heavens at His discretion.
13#Job 38:34When He utters His voice,
There is a multitude of waters in the heavens:
#Ps. 135:7“And He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth.
He makes lightning for the rain,
He brings the wind out of His treasuries.”
14#Jer. 51:17Everyone is #Prov. 30:2dull-hearted, without knowledge;
#Is. 42:17; 44:11Every metalsmith is put to shame by an image;
#Hab. 2:18For his molded image is falsehood,
And there is no breath in them.
15They are futile, a work of errors;
In the time of their punishment they shall perish.
16#Ps. 16:5; Jer. 51:19; Lam. 3:24The Portion of Jacob is not like them,
For He is the Maker of all things,
And #Deut. 32:9; Ps. 74:2Israel is the tribe of His inheritance;
#Is. 47:4The Lord of hosts is His name.
The Coming Captivity of Judah
17#Jer. 6:1Gather up your wares from the land,
O inhabitant of the fortress!
18For thus says the Lord:
“Behold, I will #1 Sam. 25:29; 2 Chr. 36:20throw out at this time
The inhabitants of the land,
And will distress them,
#Ezek. 6:10That they may find it so.”
19#Jer. 8:21Woe is me for my hurt!
My wound is severe.
But I say, #Ps. 77:10“Truly this is an infirmity,
And #Mic. 7:9I must bear it.”
20#Jer. 4:20; Lam. 2:4My tent is plundered,
And all my cords are broken;
My children have gone from me,
And they are #Jer. 31:15; Lam. 1:5no more.
There is no one to pitch my tent anymore,
Or set up my curtains.
21For the shepherds have become dull-hearted,
And have not sought the Lord;
Therefore they shall not prosper,
And all their flocks shall be #Jer. 23:2scattered.
22Behold, the noise of the report has come,
And a great commotion out of the #Jer. 5:15north country,
To make the cities of Judah desolate, a #Jer. 9:11den of jackals.
23O Lord, I know the #Prov. 16:1; 20:24way of man is not in himself;
It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps.
24O Lord, #Ps. 6:1; 38:1; Jer. 30:11correct me, but with justice;
Not in Your anger, lest You bring me to nothing.
25#Ps. 79:6, 7; Zeph. 3:8Pour out Your fury on the Gentiles, #Job 18:21; 1 Thess. 4:5; (2 Thess. 1:8)who do not know You,
And on the families who do not call on Your name;
For they have eaten up Jacob,
#Jer. 8:16Devoured him and consumed him,
And made his dwelling place desolate.
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Jeremiah 10: NKJV
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The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
Jeremiah 10
10
The Lord and the Idols
1Family of Israel, listen to what the Lord says to you. 2This is what he says:
“Don’t live like the people from other nations.
Don’t be afraid of special signs in the sky,
even though the other nations are afraid of them.
3The customs of other people are worth nothing.
Their idols are nothing but wood from the forest.
They are made by a worker with his chisel.
4They decorate their idols with silver and gold.
With hammers and nails they fasten them down.
That keeps them from falling over.
5Their idols are like scarecrows in melon fields.
They cannot talk.
They cannot walk.
They must be carried.
Do not be afraid of those idols.
They can’t hurt you.
And they can’t help you either!”
6Lord, there is no one like you.
You are great.
Your name is great and powerful.
7Everyone should respect you, King of all nations.
You deserve their respect.
There are many wise men among the nations.
And there are wise men in all the kingdoms.
But none of them are as wise as you.
8Those wise men are stupid and foolish.
Their teachings come from worthless wooden idols.
9They use silver from Tarshish
and gold from Uphaz.
Their idols are made by craftsmen and goldsmiths.
They put blue and purple clothes on the idols.
All these things are made by skilled workers.
10But the Lord is the only true God.
He is the only living God, King forever.
The earth shakes when he is angry.
The nations cannot stand up to his anger.
11“Tell them this message: ‘These false gods did not make heaven and earth. But they will be destroyed and disappear from heaven and earth.’”
12God made the earth by his power.
He used his wisdom to build the world.
He used his understanding to stretch out the skies.
13When he thunders, the waters in the skies roar.
He makes clouds rise in the sky all over the earth.
He sends lightning with the rain.
He brings out the wind from his storehouses.
14People are so stupid and know so little.
Goldsmiths are made ashamed by their idols.
Those statues are only false gods.
They have no breath in them.
15They are worth nothing.
People make fun of them.
When they are judged, they will be destroyed.
16But God, who is Jacob’s Portion, is not like the idols.
God made everything.
And he made Israel to be his special people.
The Lord of heaven’s armies is his name.
Destruction Is Coming
17Get everything you own and prepare to leave.
You people of Judah are trapped in the city by your enemies.
18This is what the Lord says:
“At this time I will throw out the people of Judah who live in this land.
I will bring pain and trouble to them.
And they will really feel it.”
19How terrible it will be for me because of my injury.
I am injured and cannot be healed.
Yet I told myself,
“This is my sickness; I must suffer through it.”
20My tent is ruined.
All its ropes are broken.
My children have gone away and left me.
No one is left to put up my tent.
No one is left to set up a shelter for me.
21The shepherds are stupid.
They don’t ask the Lord.
So they do not have success.
Their flocks are scattered and lost.
22Listen! The news is coming.
The loud noise is coming from the north.
It will make the towns of Judah an empty desert.
They will become a home for wild dogs!
Jeremiah’s Prayer
23Lord, I know that a person’s life doesn’t really belong to him.
No one can control his own life.
24Lord, correct me, but be fair.
Don’t punish me in anger.
If you do, you will destroy me.
25Pour out your anger on other nations.
They do not know you.
They do not pray to you.
Those nations have destroyed Jacob’s family.
They have eaten him up.
They destroyed his homeland.
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Copyright © 2015 by Tommy Nelson™, a Division of Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.