Jeremiah 10:1-16

English Standard Version

Idols and the Living God

10 Hear the word that the Lord speaks to you, O house of Israel. ²Thus says the Lord:

“Learn not the way of the nations,
    nor be dismayed at the signs of the heavens
    because the nations are dismayed at them,
³^(A)for the customs of the peoples are vanity.^[a]
^(B)A tree from the forest is cut down
    and worked with an axe by the hands of a craftsman.
⁴^(C)They decorate it with silver and gold;
    ^(D)they fasten it with hammer and nails
    so that it cannot move.
⁵Their idols^[b] are like scarecrows in a cucumber field,
    and ^(E)they cannot speak;
^(F)they have to be carried,
    for they cannot walk.
Do not be afraid of them,
    ^(G)for they cannot do evil,
    neither is it in them to do good.”

⁶^(H)There is none like you, O Lord;
    you are great, and your name is great in might.
⁷^(I)Who would not fear you, O King of the nations?
    For this is your due;
for among all the wise ones of the nations
    and in all their kingdoms
    there is none like you.
⁸^(J)They are both ^(K)stupid and foolish;
    the instruction of idols is but wood!
⁹^(L)Beaten silver is brought from ^(M)Tarshish,
    and gold from ^(N)Uphaz.
^(O)They are the work of the craftsman and of the hands of the goldsmith;
    their clothing is violet and purple;
    ^(P)they are all the work of skilled men.
¹⁰^(Q)But the Lord is the true God;
    ^(R)he is the living God and the everlasting King.
At his wrath the earth quakes,
    and the nations cannot endure his indignation.

¹¹Thus shall you say to them: ^(S)“The gods who did not make the heavens and the earth ^(T)shall perish from the earth and from under the heavens.”^[c]

¹²^(U)It is he who ^(V)made the earth by his power,
    ^(W)who established the world by his wisdom,
    and ^(X)by his understanding stretched out the heavens.
¹³^(Y)When he utters his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens,
    ^(Z)and he makes the mist rise from the ends of the earth.
^(AA)He makes lightning ^(AB)for the rain,
    ^(AC)and he brings forth the wind ^(AD)from his storehouses.
¹⁴^(AE)Every man is stupid and without knowledge;
    ^(AF)every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols,
for his images are false,
    ^(AG)and there is no breath in them.
¹⁵They are worthless, a work of delusion;
    at the time of their punishment they shall perish.
¹⁶Not like these is he who is ^(AH)the portion of Jacob,
    for he is the one who formed all things,
^(AI)and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance;
    ^(AJ)the Lord of hosts is his name.