1 Hear the word which Yahweh speaks to you, house of
Israel! 2 Thus says Yahweh, “Don’t learn the way of the nations, and don’t
be dismayed at the signs of the sky; for the nations are dismayed at them.
3 For the customs of the peoples are vanity; for one cuts a tree out of
the forest, the work of the hands of the workman with the axe. 4 They deck
it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers,
that it not move. 5 They are like a palm tree, of turned work, and don’t
speak: they must be carried, because they can’t go. Don’t be afraid of them;
for they can’t do evil, neither is it in them to do good.” 6 There is none
like you, Yahweh; you are great, and your name is great in might.
7 Who should not fear you, King of the nations? for to you does it
appertain; because among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their
royal estate, there is none like you. 8 But they are together brutish and
foolish: the instruction of idols! it is but a stock. 9 There is silver
beaten into plates, which is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the
work of the artificer and of the hands of the goldsmith; blue and purple for
their clothing; they are all the work of skillful men. 10 But Yahweh is
the true God; he is the living God, and an everlasting King: at his wrath the
earth trembles, and the nations are not able to abide his indignation.
11 Thus shall you say to them, The gods that have not made the
heavens and the earth, these shall perish from the earth, and from under the
heavens. 12 He has made the earth by his power, he has established the
world by his wisdom, and by his understanding has he stretched out the
heavens: 13 when he utters his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the
heavens, and he causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; he
makes lightnings for the rain, and brings forth the wind out of his
treasuries. 14 Every man is become brutish and is without
knowledge; every goldsmith is disappointed by his engraved image; for his
molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them. 15 They are
vanity, a work of delusion: in the time of their visitation they shall
perish. 16 The portion of Jacob is not like these; for he is the former of
all things; and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance: Yahweh of Hosts is
his name. 17 Gather up your wares out of the land, you who abide in the
siege. 18 For thus says Yahweh, Behold, I will sling out the inhabitants
of the land at this time, and will distress them, that they may feel
it. 19 Woe is me because of my hurt! my wound is grievous: but I
said, Truly this is my grief, and I must bear it. 20 My tent is
destroyed, and all my cords are broken: my children are gone forth from me,
and they are no more: there is none to spread my tent any more, and to set up
my curtains. 21 For the shepherds are become brutish, and have not
inquired of Yahweh: therefore they have not prospered, and all their flocks
are scattered. 22 The voice of news, behold, it comes, and a great
commotion out of the north country, to make the cities of Judah a desolation,
a dwelling-place of jackals. 23 Yahweh, I know that the way of man is
not in himself: it is not in man who walks to direct his steps.
24 Yahweh, correct me, but in measure: not in your anger, lest you
bring me to nothing. 25 Pour out your wrath on the nations that don’t know
you, and on the families that don’t call on your name: for they have devoured
Jacob, yes, they have devoured him and consumed him, and have laid waste his
habitation.
World English Bible - Public Domain |
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