“You must not learn the way of the nations,
    and you must not be dismayed by the signs of the heavens,
    for the nations are dismayed by them.
³ For the statutes of the peoples are vanity,
    for it is a tree cut down from the forest,
    the work of the hands of a craftsman with the tool.
⁴ He decorates it with silver and gold,
    they strengthen it with nails and hammers,
    so that it does not stagger.
⁵ They are like scarecrows^[a] in a cucumber field,
    they cannot speak.
Indeed, they must be carried,
    for they cannot march.
You must not be afraid of them,
    for they cannot do evil;
furthermore, to do good is not in them.”