“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.”
⁶ There is none like you, O Yahweh,
    you are great and your name is great in might.
⁷ Who would not revere you, O king of the nations?
    For you it is fitting.
For among all the wise men of the nations,
    and in all their kingdoms,^[b]
    there is none like you.
⁸ At the same time^[c] they are stupid and foolish,
    in the instruction of idols, it is wood.
⁹ Silver beaten from Tarshish is brought,
    and gold from Uphaz,
the work of the craftsman and the hands of the goldsmith.
Blue and purple are their clothing,
    all of them are the work of skillful people.
¹⁰ But Yahweh is the true God,
    he is the living God,
    and an everlasting king.^[d]
Because of his wrath the earth quakes,
    and the nations cannot endure his anger.

‘Gods who did not make the heavens and the earth
    will perish from the earth and from under these heavens.
¹² He is the maker of the earth by his power,
    who created the world by his wisdom,
    and by his understanding he stretched out heaven.
¹³ When he utters his voice^[f] there is a noise of water in the heavens,
    and he causes the mist to rise from the ends^[g] of the earth.
He makes lightning for the rain,
    and he causes the wind to go out from his storehouses.
¹⁴ Everyone^[h] is stupid, without knowledge,^[i]
    every goldsmith is ashamed by his divine image,
for his cast image is an illusion,
    and there is no breath in them.
¹⁵ They are vanity, a work of mockery,
    at the time of their punishment, they will perish.
¹⁶ The portion of Jacob is not like these,
    for he is the creator of everything,
and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance,
    Yahweh of hosts is his name.
¹⁷ Gather your bundle from the ground,
    you who live under the siege.’”

“Look, I am about to sling out the inhabitants of the land at this time,
    and I will bring distress to them, so that they may feel it.”