Jeremiah 10:1-25 NIV
God and Idols
“Do not
learn the ways of the nations
or be
terrified by signs in the heavens,
though
the nations are terrified by them.
3For the
practices of the peoples are worthless;
they
cut a tree out of the forest,
and a
craftsman shapes it with his chisel.
4They
adorn it with silver and gold;
they
fasten it with hammer and nails
so it
will not totter.
5Like a
scarecrow in a cucumber field,
their
idols cannot speak;
they
must be carried
because
they cannot walk.
Do not
fear them;
they
can do no harm
nor can
they do any good.”
6No one
is like You, Lord;
You are
great,
and
Your Name is mighty in power.
7Who
should not fear you,
King of
the nations?
This is
Your due.
Among
all the wise leaders of the nations
and in
all their kingdoms,
there
is no one like You.
8They
are all senseless and foolish;
they
are taught by worthless wooden idols.
9Hammered
silver is brought from Tarshish
and
gold from Uphaz.
What the
craftsman and goldsmith have made
is then
dressed in blue and purple—
all
made by skilled workers.
10But the Lord is the True God;
He is
the Living God, the Eternal King.
When He
is angry, the earth trembles;
the
nations cannot endure His Wrath.
11“Tell
them this: ‘These gods, who did not make the heavens and the earth, will perish
from the earth and from under the heavens.’ ”a
12But God
made the earth by His Power;
He
founded the world by His Wisdom
and
stretched out the heavens by His Understanding.
13When He
thunders, the waters in the heavens roar;
He
makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth.
He
sends lightning with the rain
and
brings out the wind from His storehouses.
14Everyone
is senseless and without knowledge;
every
goldsmith is shamed by his idols.
The
images he makes are a fraud;
they
have no breath in them.
15They
are worthless, the objects of mockery;
when
their judgment comes, they will perish.
16He Who
is the Portion of Jacob is not like these,
for He
is the Maker of all things,
including
Israel, the people of His Inheritance—
the Lord Almighty is His Name.
Coming Destruction
17Gather
up your belongings to leave the land,
you who
live under siege.
18For
this is what the Lord says:
“At
this time I will hurl out
those
who live in this land;
I will
bring distress on them
so that
they may be captured.”
19Woe to
me because of my injury!
My
wound is incurable!
Yet I
said to myself,
“This
is my sickness, and I must endure it.”
20My tent
is destroyed;
all its
ropes are snapped.
My
children are gone from me and are no more;
no one
is left now to pitch my tent
or to
set up my shelter.
21The
shepherds are senseless
and do
not inquire of the Lord;
so they
do not prosper
and all
their flock is scattered.
22Listen!
The report is coming—
a great
commotion from the land of the north!
It will
make the towns of Judah desolate,
a haunt
of jackals.
Jeremiah’s Prayer
it is
not for them to direct their steps.
24Discipline
me, Lord, but only in due measure—
not in
Your Anger,
or you
will reduce me to nothing.
25Pour
out Your Wrath on the nations
that do
not acknowledge You,
on the
peoples who do not call on Your Name.
For
they have devoured Jacob;
they
have devoured him completely
and
destroyed his homeland.
The Jews, about to be
carried into captivity, are here warned against the superstition and idolatry
of that country to which they were going. Chaldea was greatly addicted to
astrology, and therefore the prophet begins with warning them against it, Jeremiah 10:1, Jeremiah 10:2.
He then exposes the
absurdity of idolatry in short but elegant satire; in the midst of which he
turns to the One True God, Whose adorable attributes repeatedly strike in view and
contrast His infinite perfections with those despicable foolishness which the
blinded nations fear, Jeremiah 10:3-16. The
prophet again denounces the Divine judgments, Jeremiah 10:17, Jeremiah 10:18; upon which
Jerusalem laments her fate, and supplicates the Divine compassion in her favor, Jeremiah 10:19-25.
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