Jeremiah 10
10
The Lord Talks about Idols
1-2The Lord said:
Listen to me,
you people of Israel.
Don't follow the customs
of those nations
who become frightened
when they see something strange
happen in the sky.
3Their religion is worthless!
They chop down a tree,
carve the wood into an idol,
4cover it with silver and gold,
and then nail it down
so it won't fall over.
5An idol is no better
than a scarecrow.
It can't speak,
and it has to be carried,
because it can't walk.
Why worship an idol
that can't help or harm you?
Jeremiah Praises the Lord
6Our Lord, great and powerful,
you alone are God.
7 #
Rev 15.4. You are King of the nations.
Everyone should worship you.
No human anywhere on earth
is wiser than you.
8Idols are worthless,
and anyone who worships them
is a fool!
9Idols are made by humans.
A carver shapes the wood.
A metalworker hammers out
a covering of gold from Uphaz
or of silver from Tarshish.
Then the idol is dressed
in blue and purple clothes.
10You, Lord, are the only true
and living God.
You will rule for all time.
When you are angry
the earth shakes,
and nations are destroyed.
11You told me to say
that idols did not create
the heavens and the earth,
and that you, the Lord,
will destroy every idol.
12With your wisdom and power
you created the earth
and spread out the heavens.
13The waters in the heavens roar
at your command.
You make clouds appear—
you send the winds
from your storehouse
and make lightning flash
in the rain.
14People who make idols
are so stupid!
They will be disappointed,
because their false gods
are not alive.
15Idols are merely a joke,
and when the time is right,
they will be destroyed.
16But you, Israel's God,
created all things,
and you chose Israel
to be your very own.
Your name is the Lord
All-Powerful.
Judah Will Be Thrown from Its Land
17I said to the people of Judah,
“Gather your things;
you are surrounded.
18The Lord said these troubles
will lead to your capture,
and he will throw you
from this land
like a rock from a sling.”#10.18 like a rock from a sling: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
19The people answered,
“We are wounded
and doomed to die.
Why did we say
we could stand the pain?
20Our homes are destroyed;
our children are dead.
No one is left
to help us find shelter.”
21But I told them,
“Our leaders were stupid failures,
because they refused
to listen to the Lord.
And so we've been scattered
like sheep.
22“Sounds of destruction
rumble from the north
like distant thunder.
Soon our towns will be ruins
where only jackals#10.22 jackals: See the note at 9.11. live.”
Jeremiah Prays
23I know, Lord, that we humans
are not in control
of our own lives.
24Correct me, as I deserve,
but not in your anger,
or I will be dead.
25Our enemies refuse
to admit that you are God
or to worship you.
They have wiped out our people
and left our nation
lying in ruins.
So get angry
and sweep them away!
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Jeremiah 10: CEVDCI
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
Yirmeyahu (Jer) 10
10
1Hear the word Adonai speaks to you,
house of Isra’el!
2Here is what Adonai says:
“Don’t learn the way of the Goyim,
don’t be frightened by astrological signs,
even if the Goyim are afraid of them;
3for the customs of the peoples are nothing.
They cut down a tree in the forest;
a craftsman works it with his axe;
4they deck it with silver and gold.
They fix it with hammer and nails,
so that it won’t move.
5Like a scarecrow in a cucumber patch,
it cannot speak.
It has to be carried,
because it cannot walk.
Do not be afraid of it —
it can do nothing bad;
likewise it is unable
to do anything good!”
6There is no one like you, Adonai!
You are great, and your name is great and mighty.
7Who would not fear you, king of the nations?
For it is your due! —
since among all the wise of the nations
and among all their royalty,
there is no one like you.
8One and all they are boorish and stupid;
the teaching of their nothings is a piece of wood!
9Silver is beaten into plates,
then imported from Tarshish.
Gold from Ufaz is worked by a craftsman
and shaped by the hands of a goldsmith.
They are clothed in blue and purple,
all the work of skillful men.
10But Adonai, God, is the true God,
the living God, the everlasting king.
At his anger, the earth trembles;
the nations cannot endure his fury.
11“This is what you must say to them:
‘The gods that did not make heaven and earth
will perish from earth and from under heaven.’”
12God made the earth by his power,
established the world by his wisdom
spread out the sky by his understanding.
13When he thunders, the waters in heaven roar,
he raises clouds from the ends of the earth,
he makes the lightning flash in the rain
and brings the wind out from his storehouses.
14At this, everyone is proved stupid, ignorant,
every goldsmith put to shame by his idol!
The figures he casts are a fraud;
there is no breath in them;
15they are nothings, ridiculous objects;
when the day for their punishment comes, they will perish.
16Ya‘akov’s portion is not like these,
for he is the one who formed all things.
Isra’el is the tribe he claims as his heritage;
Adonai-Tzva’ot is his name.
17You who are living under the siege,
gather your belongings off the ground,
18for here is what Adonai says:
“At this time I am slinging away
the inhabitants of the land;
I will distress them,
so that they will feel it.”
19Woe to me because of my wound!
My injury is incurable!
I used to say, “It’s only an illness,
and I can bear it.”
20But now my tent is ruined,
all its cords are severed;
my children have left me and are no more;
there is no one to set up my tent again,
no one to raise its curtains.
21The shepherds have become stupid,
they have not consulted Adonai.
This is why they have not prospered,
and all their flocks are scattered.
22Listen! A noise! It’s coming closer!
A great uproar from the land to the north,
to make the cities of Y’hudah desolate,
a place for jackals to live.
23Adonai, I know that the way of humans
is not in their control,
humans are not able
to direct their steps as they walk.
24Adonai, correct me, but in moderation,
not in your anger, or you’ll reduce me to nothing.
25Pour out your anger on the nations
that do not acknowledge you,
also on the families
that do not call on your name.
For they have consumed Ya‘akov —
consumed him and finished him off,
and laid waste to his home.
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