Jeremia 10 | New International Reader’s Version

The Lord is the only true God

1 People of Israel, listen to what the LORD is telling you. 2 He says, ‘Do not follow the practices of other nations. Do not be terrified by warnings in the sky. Do not be afraid, even though the nations are terrified by them. 3 The practices of these nations are worthless. People cut a tree out of the forest. A skilled worker shapes the wood with a sharp tool. 4 Others decorate it with silver and gold. They use a hammer to nail it to the floor. They want to keep it from falling down. 5 The statues of their gods can’t speak. They are like scarecrows in a field of cucumbers. Their statues have to be carried around because they can’t walk. So do not be afraid of their gods. They can’t do you any harm. And they can’t do you any good either.’ 6 LORD, no one is like you. You are great. You are mighty and powerful. 7 King of the nations, everyone should have respect for you. That’s what people should give you. Among all the wise leaders of the nations there is no one like you. No one can compare with you in all their kingdoms. 8 All of them are foolish. They don’t have any sense. They think they are taught by worthless wooden gods. 9 Hammered silver is brought from Tarshish. Gold is brought from Uphaz. People skilled in working with wood and gold make a statue. Then they put blue and purple clothes on it. The whole thing is made by skilled workers. 10 But you are the only true God. You are the only living God. You are the King who rules for ever. When you are angry, the earth trembles with fear. The nations can’t stand up under your anger. 11 The LORD speaks to the Jews living in Babylon. He says, ‘Here is what you must tell the people of the nations. Tell them, “Your gods did not make the heavens and the earth. In fact, these gods will disappear from the earth. They will vanish from under the heavens.” ’ 12 But God used his power to make the earth. His wisdom set the world in place. His understanding spread out the heavens. 13 When he thunders, the waters in the heavens roar. He makes clouds rise from one end of the earth to the other. He sends lightning along with the rain. He brings the wind out from his storerooms. 14 No one has any sense or knows anything at all. Everyone who works with gold is put to shame by his gods. The metal gods he has made are fakes. They can’t even breathe. 15 They are worthless things that people make fun of. When the LORD judges them, they will be destroyed. 16 The God of Jacob is not like them. He gives his people everything they need. He made everything that exists. And that includes Israel. They are the people who belong to him. His name is the LORD Who Rules Over All.

The land will be destroyed

17 People of Jerusalem, your enemies have surrounded you. They are attacking you. So gather up what belongs to you. Then leave the land. 18 The LORD says, ‘I am about to throw out of this land everyone who lives in it. I will bring trouble on them. They will be captured.’ 19 How terrible it will be for me! I’ve been wounded! And my wound can’t be healed! In spite of that, I said to myself, ‘I’m ill. But I’ll have to put up with it.’ 20 Jerusalem is like a tent that has been destroyed. All its ropes have snapped. My people have gone away from me. Now no one is left to set up my tent. I have no one to set up my shelter. 21 The leaders of my people are like shepherds who don’t have any sense. They don’t ask the LORD for advice. That’s why they don’t succeed. And that’s why their whole flock is scattered like sheep. 22 Listen! A message is coming! I hear the sound of a great army marching down from the north! It will turn Judah’s towns into a desert. They will become a home for wild dogs.

Jeremiah prays to the Lord

23 LORD, I know that a person doesn’t control their own life. They don’t direct their own steps. 24 Correct me, LORD, but please be fair. Don’t correct me when you are angry. If you do, nothing will be left of me. 25 Pour out your great anger on the nations. They don’t pay any attention to you. They refuse to worship you. They have destroyed the people of Jacob. They’ve wiped them out completely. They’ve also destroyed the land they lived in.

English Standard Version

Idols and the Living God

1 Hear the word that the Lord speaks to you, O house of Israel. 2 Thus says the Lord: “Learn not the way of the nations, nor be dismayed at the signs of the heavens because the nations are dismayed at them, 3 for the customs of the peoples are vanity.* A tree from the forest is cut down and worked with an axe by the hands of a craftsman. 4 They decorate it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so that it cannot move. 5 Their idols* 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, neither is it in them to do good.” 6 There is none like you, O Lord; you are great, and your name is great in might. 7 Who would not fear you, O King of the nations? For this is your due; for among all the wise ones of the nations and in all their kingdoms there is none like you. 8 They are both stupid and foolish; the instruction of idols is but wood! 9 Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz. They are the work of the craftsman and of the hands of the goldsmith; their clothing is violet and purple; they are all the work of skilled men. 10 But the Lord is the true God; he is the living God and the everlasting King. At his wrath the earth quakes, and the nations cannot endure his indignation. 11 Thus shall you say to them: “The gods who did not make the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth and from under the heavens.”* 12 It is he who made the earth by his power, who established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding stretched out the heavens. 13 When he utters his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he makes the mist rise from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning for the rain, and he brings forth the wind from his storehouses. 14 Every man is stupid and without knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols, for his images are false, and there is no breath in them. 15 They are worthless, a work of delusion; at the time of their punishment they shall perish. 16 Not like these is he who is the portion of Jacob, for he is the one who formed all things, and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance; the Lord of hosts is his name. 17 Gather up your bundle from the ground, O you who dwell under siege! 18 For thus says the Lord: “Behold, I am slinging out the inhabitants of the land at this time, and I will bring distress on them, that they may feel it.” 19 Woe is me because of my hurt! My wound is grievous. But I said, “Truly this is an affliction, and I must bear it.” 20 My tent is destroyed, and all my cords are broken; my children have gone from me, and they are not; there is no one to spread my tent again and to set up my curtains. 21 For the shepherds are stupid and do not inquire of the Lord; therefore they have not prospered, and all their flock is scattered. 22 A voice, a rumor! Behold, it comes!— a great commotion out of the north country to make the cities of Judah a desolation, a lair of jackals. 23 I know, O Lord, that the way of man is not in himself, that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps. 24 Correct me, O Lord, but in justice; not in your anger, lest you bring me to nothing. 25 Pour out your wrath on the nations that know you not, and on the peoples that call not on your name, for they have devoured Jacob; they have devoured him and consumed him, and have laid waste his habitation.

Jeremia 10 | New International Reader’s Version English Standard Version

The Lord is the only true God

The land will be destroyed

Jeremiah prays to the Lord

Idols and the Living God