Jeremiah 10
10
The Lord and the Idols
1Family of Israel, listen to the Lord! 2This is what the Lord says:
“Don’t live like people from other nations.
Don’t be afraid of special signs in the sky.#10:2 special signs in the sky People believed that such things as comets, meteors, or eclipses of the sun and moon could be used to learn what was going to happen in the future.
The other nations are afraid of what they see in the sky.
But you must not be afraid of them.
3The customs of other people are worth nothing.
Their idols are nothing but wood from the forest.
Their idols are made by workers with their chisels.#10:3 chisels Sharp tools used to carve wood or stone.
4They make their idols beautiful with silver and gold.
They use hammers and nails to fasten their idols down
so that they will not fall over.
5The idols of the other nations are like
a scarecrow in a cucumber field.
They cannot walk.
They cannot talk, and the people must carry them.
So don’t be afraid of their idols.
They cannot hurt you.
And they cannot 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 the nations.
You deserve their respect.
There are many wise men among the nations,
but not one of them is as wise as you.
8All the people of the other nations are stupid and foolish.
Their teachings come from worthless wooden statues.
9They use silver from the city of Tarshish
and gold from the city of Uphaz and make their statues.
Carpenters and metalworkers make the idols.
They put blue and purple clothes on them.
“Wise men” make these “gods.”
10But the Lord is the only true God.
He is the only God who is alive.
He is the King who rules forever.
The earth shakes when he is angry.
The people of the nations cannot stop his anger.
11The Lord says, “Tell them this message:
‘These false gods did not make heaven and earth.
They will be destroyed and disappear from heaven and earth.’”#10:11 Tell them this message … earth This part was written in Aramaic, not Hebrew. This was the language people used often when writing to people in other countries. It was also the language spoken in Babylon.
12God is the one who used his power and made the earth.
He used his wisdom and built the world.
With his understanding he stretched the sky over the earth.
13God causes the loud thunder,
and he causes great floods of water to fall from the sky.
He makes clouds rise in the sky every place on earth.
He sends lightning with the rain.
He brings out the wind from his storehouses.
14People are so stupid!
Metalworkers are fooled by the idols that they themselves made.
These statues are nothing but lies.
They are stupid.#10:14 They are stupid Literally, “They have no spirit.” This might also mean “They are not alive.”
15These idols are worth nothing.
They are something to make fun of.
In the time of judgment they will be destroyed.
16But Jacob’s God#10:16 Jacob’s God Literally, “Jacob’s share.” This means that God and Jacob (the people of Israel) had a special relationship—God belonged to Israel, and Israel belonged to God.” is not like the idols.
He made everything,
and Israel is the family that God chose to be his own people.
His name is Lord All-Powerful.
Destruction Is Coming
17Get everything you own and prepare to leave.
People of Judah, you are trapped in the city,
and the enemy is all around it.
18This is what the Lord says:
“This time, I will throw the people of Judah out of this country.
I will bring pain and trouble to them.
I will do this so that they will learn their lesson.”#10:18 they will learn their lesson The Hebrew text here is hard to understand.
19I am hurt badly.
I am injured and I cannot be healed.
But I told myself, “This is my sickness;
I must suffer through it.”
20My tent is ruined.
All its ropes are broken.
My children left me.
They are gone.
No one is left to put up my tent.
No one is left to fix a shelter for me.
21The shepherds are stupid.
They don’t try to find the Lord.
They are not wise,
so their flocks are scattered and lost.
22Listen! A loud noise!
The noise is coming from the north.#10:22 north The Babylonian army came from this direction to attack Judah. Armies from countries north and east of Israel often came this way to attack Judah and Israel.
It will destroy the cities of Judah.
Judah will become an empty desert.
It will be a home for jackals.
23Lord, I know that our lives do not belong to us.
We have no control over what happens.
24So correct us, Lord!
But please be fair.
Don’t punish us in anger,
or you will destroy us!
25If you are angry, then punish the other nations.
They don’t know or respect you.
They don’t worship you.
Those nations destroyed Jacob’s family.
They destroyed Israel completely.
They destroyed Israel’s homeland.
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© 1987, 2004 Bible League International
Jeremiah 10
10
Idolatry and True Worship
1People of Israel, listen to the message that the LORD has for you. 2He says,
“Do not follow the ways of other nations;
do not be disturbed by unusual sights in the sky,
even though other nations are terrified.
3The religion of these people is worthless.
A tree is cut down in the forest;
it is carved by the tools of the woodcarver,
4and decorated with silver and gold.
It is fastened down with nails
to keep it from falling over.
5Such idols are like scarecrows in a field of melons;
they cannot speak;
they have to be carried
because they cannot walk.
Do not be afraid of them:
they can cause you no harm,
and they can do you no good.”
6 LORD, there is no one like you;
you are mighty,
and your name is great and powerful.
7 #
Rev 15.4
Who would not honour you, the king of all nations?
You deserve to be honoured.
There is no one like you
among all the wise men of the nations
or among any of their kings.
8All of them are stupid and foolish.
What can they learn from wooden idols?#10.8 What can… idols?; or What their idols teach is worthless.
9Their idols are covered with silver from Spain
and with gold from Uphaz,
all the work of artists;
they are dressed in violet and purple cloth
woven by skilled weavers.
10But you, LORD, are the true God,
you are the living God
and the eternal king.
When you are angry, the world trembles;
the nations cannot endure your anger.
11(You people must tell them that the gods who did not make the earth and the sky will be destroyed. They will no longer exist anywhere on earth.)
A Hymn of Praise to God
12The LORD made the earth by his power;
by his wisdom he created the world
and stretched out the heavens.
13At his command the waters above the sky#10.13 waters above the sky: See Gen 1.6–8. roar;
he brings clouds from the ends of the earth.
He makes lightning flash in the rain
and sends the wind from his storeroom.
14At the sight of this, people feel stupid and senseless;
those who make idols are disillusioned,
because the gods they make are false and lifeless.
15They are worthless and should be despised;
they will be destroyed when the LORD comes to deal with them.
16The God of Jacob is not like them;
he is the one who made everything,
and he has chosen Israel to be his very own people.
The LORD Almighty is his name.
The Coming Exile
17People of Jerusalem, you are under siege! Gather up your belongings. 18The LORD is going to throw you out of this land; he is going to crush you until not one of you is left. The LORD has spoken.
19The people of Jerusalem cried out,
“How badly we are hurt!
Our wounds will not heal.
And we thought this was something we could endure!
20Our tents are ruined;
the ropes that held them have broken.
Our children have all gone away;
there is no one left to put up our tents again;
there is no one to hang their curtains.”
21I answered, “Our leaders are stupid;
they do not ask the LORD for guidance.
This is why they have failed,
and our people have been scattered.
22Listen! News has come!
There is a great commotion in a nation to the north;
its army will turn the cities of Judah into a desert,
a place where jackals live.”
23 LORD, I know that no one is the master of his own destiny;
no person has control over his own life.
24Correct your people, LORD;
but do not be too hard on us
or punish us when you are angry;
that would be the end of us.
25Turn your anger on the nations that do not worship you
and on the people who reject you.
They have killed your people;
they have destroyed us completely
and left our country in ruins.
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Good News Bible with Deuterocanonicals/Apocrypha. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.