Idols of the Nations

1Hear you the word which the LORD speaks unto you, O house of Israel:

2Thus says the LORD, Learn not the way of the nations, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the nations are dismayed at them.

3For the customs of the people are vain: for one cuts a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe.

4They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it moves not.

5They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good.

6Since as there is none like unto you, O LORD; you are great, and your name is great in might.

7Who would not fear you, O King of nations? for to you is it due: since among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like unto you.

8But they are altogether senseless and foolish: the wooden idol is a doctrine of vanities.

9Silver beaten into plates is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the craftsman, and of the hands of the goldsmith: blue and purple is their clothing: they are all the work of skillful men.

10But the LORD is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to endure his indignation.

11Thus shall you say unto them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens.

12He has made the earth by his power, he has established the world by his wisdom, and has stretched out the heavens at his discretion.

13When he utters his voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens, and he causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; he makes lightnings with rain, and brings forth the wind out of his storehouses.

14Every man is senseless in his knowledge: every goldsmith is put to shame by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.

15They are vanity, and the work of errors: in the time of their judgment they shall perish.

16The portion of Jacob is not like them: for he is the former of all things; and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance: The LORD of hosts is his name.

Destruction Is Coming

17Gather up your wares out of the land, O inhabitant of the fortress.

18For thus says the LORD, Behold, I will sling out the inhabitants of the land at this time, and will distress them, that they may find it so.

19Woe is me for my hurt! my wound is grievous: but I said, Truly this is a grief, and I must bear it.

20My tent is plundered, and all my cords are broken: my children are gone forth from me, and they are not: there is none to stretch forth my tent anymore, and to set up my curtains.

21For the shepherds have become senseless, and have not sought the LORD: therefore they shall not prosper, and all their flocks shall be scattered.

22Behold, the noise of the report has come, and a great commotion out of the north country, to make the cities of Judah desolate, and a den of jackals.

Jeremiah's Prayer

23O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man who walks to direct his steps.

24O LORD, correct me, but with justice; not in your anger, lest you bring me to nothing.

25Pour out your fury upon the nations that know you not, and upon the families that call not on your name: for they have eaten up Jacob, and devoured him, and consumed him, and have made his habitation desolate.