Jeremiah 10:1-16

The False Gods and the True God

10¹ Give ear to the word which the Lord says to you, O people of Israel: ² This is what the Lord has said: Do not go in the way of the nations; have no fear of the signs of heaven, for the nations go in fear of them. ³ For that which is feared by the people is foolish: it is the work of the hands of the workman; for a tree is cut down by him out of the woods with his axe. ⁴ They make it beautiful with silver and gold; they make it strong with nails and hammers, so that it may not be moved. ⁵ It is like a pillar in a garden of plants, and has no voice: it has to be lifted, for it has no power of walking. Have no fear of it; for it has no power of doing evil and it is not able to do any good. ⁶ There is no one like you, O Lord; you are great and your name is great in power. ⁷ Who would not have fear of you, O King of the nations? for it is your right: for among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is no one like you. ⁸ But they are together like beasts and foolish: the teaching of false gods is wood. ⁹ Silver hammered into plates is sent from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the expert workman and of the hands of the gold-worker; blue and purple is their clothing, all the work of expert men. ¹⁰ But the Lord is the true God; he is the living God and an eternal king: when he is angry, the earth is shaking with fear, and the nations give way before his wrath. ¹¹ This is what you are to say to them: The gods who have not made the heavens and the earth will be cut off from the earth and from under the heavens. ¹² He has made the earth by his power, he has made the world strong in its place by his wisdom, and by his wise design the heavens have been stretched out. ¹³ At the sound of his voice there is a massing of waters in the heavens, and he makes the mists go up from the ends of the earth; he makes the thunder-flames for the rain, and sends out the wind from his store-houses. ¹⁴ Then every man becomes like a beast without knowledge; every gold-worker is put to shame by the image he has made: for his metal image is deceit, and there is no breath in them. ¹⁵ They are nothing, a work of error: in the time of their punishment, destruction will overtake them. ¹⁶ The heritage of Jacob is not like these; for the maker of all things is his heritage: the Lord of armies is his name.