Chapter 10

¹ Hear ye the word of the Lord, which he has spoken to you, O house of Israel.

Jer 10:1

² Thus saith the Lord, Learn ye not the ways of the heathen, and be not alarmed at the signs of the sky; for they are alarmed at them, [falling] on their faces. ³ For the customs of the nations are vain; it is a tree cut out of the forest, the work of the carpenter, or a molten image. ⁴ [They are] beautified with silver and gold, they fix them with hammers and nails; ⁵ they will set them up that they may not move; it is wrought silver, they will not walk, it is forged silver ⁹ [brought] from Tarshish, gold will come from Uphaz, and the work of goldsmiths: [they are] all the works of craftsmen, they will clothe themselves with blue and scarlet. ⁹ a They must certainly be borne, for they cannot ride [of themselves]. Fear them not; for they cannot do any evil, and there is no good in them.

Jer 10:2-9

¹¹ Thus shall ye say to them, Let the gods which have not made heaven and earth perish from off the earth, and from under this sky. ¹² It is the Lord that made the earth by his strength, who set up the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding stretched out the sky, ¹³ and set abundance of waters in the sky, and brought up clouds from the ends of the earth; he made lightnings for the rain, and brought forth light out of his treasures. ¹⁴ Every man is deprived of knowledge, every goldsmith is confounded because of his graven images; for he has cast false gods, there is no breath in them. ¹⁵ They are vain works, wrought in mockery; in the time of their visitation they shall perish. ¹⁶ Such is not the portion of Jacob; for he that formed all things, he is his inheritance; the Lord is his name.

Jer 10:11-16

¹⁷ He has gathered thy substance from without that lodged in choice [vessels]. ¹⁸ For thus saith the Lord, Behold, I [will] overthrow the inhabitants of this land with affliction, that thy plague may be discovered.

Jer 10:17-18

¹⁹ Alas for thy ruin! thy plague is grievous: and I said, Surely this is thy wound, and it has overtaken thee. ²⁰ Thy tabernacle is in a ruinous state, it has perished; and all thy curtains have been torn asunder: my children and my cattle are no more: there is no more any place for my tabernacle, [nor] place for my curtains. ²¹ For the shepherds have become foolish, and have not sought the Lord; therefore the whole pasture has failed, and [the sheep] have been scattered. ²² Behold, there comes a sound of a noise, and a great earthquake from the land of the north, to make the cities of Judah a desolation, and a resting place for ostriches.

Jer 10:19-22

²³ I know, O Lord, that man’s way is not his own; neither shall a man go, and direct his going. ²⁴ Chasten us, O Lord, but with judgment; and not in wrath, lest thou make us few. ²⁵ Pour out thy wrath upon the nations that have not known thee, and upon the families that have not called upon thy name: for they have devoured Jacob, and consumed him, and have made his pasture desolate.

Jer 10:23-25