^4 (A)“In those days and in that time, declares the Lord, ^(B)the people of Israel and the people of Judah shall come together, ^(C)weeping as they come, and they ^(D)shall seek the Lord their God. ^5 (E)They shall ask the way to Zion, with faces turned toward it, ^(F)saying, ‘Come, let us join ourselves to the Lord in an ^(G)everlasting covenant that will never be forgotten.’

Israel's Futile Idolatry

Woe to the Chaldeans

⁶ Shall not all these ^(A)take up their taunt against him, with scoffing and riddles for him, and say,

^12 (A)The ironsmith takes a cutting tool and works it over the coals. He fashions it with hammers and works it with his strong arm. He becomes hungry, and his strength fails; he drinks no water and is faint. ¹³ The carpenter stretches a line; he marks it out with a pencil.^[a] He shapes it with planes and marks it with a compass. ^(B)He shapes it into the figure of a man, with the beauty of a man, to dwell in a house. ^14 (C)He cuts down cedars, or he chooses a cypress tree or an oak and lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest. He plants a cedar and the rain nourishes it. ¹⁵ Then it becomes fuel for a man. He takes a part of it and warms himself; he kindles a fire and bakes bread. Also he makes a god and worships it; he makes it an idol and falls down before it. ¹⁶ Half of it he burns in the fire. Over the half he eats meat; he roasts it and is satisfied. Also he warms himself and says, “Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire!” ¹⁷ And the rest of it he makes into a god, his idol, and falls down to it and worships it. ^(D)He prays to it and says, “Deliver me, for you are my god!”