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: CEV
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
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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