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Idolatry Has Brought Ruin on Israel

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

Do not learn the way of the nations
    or be dismayed at the signs of the heavens,
    for the nations are dismayed at them.(A)
For the customs of the peoples are false:
a tree from the forest is cut down
    and worked with an ax by the hands of an artisan;(B)
they deck it with silver and gold;
    they fasten it with hammers and nails
    so that it cannot move.(C)
Their idols[a] are like scarecrows in a cucumber field,
    and they cannot speak;
they have to be carried,
    for they cannot walk.
Do not be afraid of them,
    for they cannot do evil,
    nor is it in them to do good.(D)

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Footnotes

  1. 10.5 Heb They

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

“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.
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.
He decorates it with silver and gold,
    they strengthen it with nails and hammers,
    so that it does not stagger.
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.”

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 10:5 Hebrew “scarecrow”