¹ Hear the word that Yahweh speaks to you, O house of Israel.

² Thus says Yahweh: “You must not learn the way of the nations, and you must not be dismayed by the signs of the heavens, for the nations are dismayed by them.

³ For the statutes of the peoples are vanity, for it is a tree cut down from the forest, the work of the hands of a craftsman with the tool.

⁴ He decorates it with silver and gold, they strengthen it with nails and hammers, so that it does not stagger.

⁵ They are like scarecrows¹ in a cucumber field, they cannot speak. Indeed, they must be carried, for they cannot march. You must not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil; furthermore, to do good is not in them.”

1. Hebrew “scarecrow”

⁶ There is none like you, O Yahweh, you are great and your name is great in might.

⁷ Who would not revere you, O king of the nations? For you it is fitting. For among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms,¹ there is none like you.

1. Hebrew “kingdom”

⁸ ⌞At the same time⌟¹ they are stupid and foolish, in the instruction of idols, it is wood.

1. Literally “And in one”

⁹ Silver beaten from Tarshish is brought, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the craftsman and the hands of the goldsmith. Blue and purple are their clothing, all of them are the work of skillful people.

¹⁰ But Yahweh is the true God, he is the living God, and ⌞an everlasting king⌟.¹ Because of his wrath the earth quakes, and the nations cannot endure his anger.

1. Literally “a king of eternity”

¹¹ “⌞Thus⌟¹ you shall say to them, ‘Gods who did not make the heavens and the earth will perish from the earth and from under these heavens.

1. Literally “Like this”

¹² He is the maker of the earth by his power, who created the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding he stretched out heaven.

¹³ ⌞When he utters his voice⌟¹ there is a noise of water in the heavens, and he causes the mist to rise from the ends² of the earth. He makes lightning for the rain, and he causes the wind to go out from his storehouses.

1. Literally “At the voice of his giving”
2. Hebrew “end”

¹⁴ ⌞Everyone⌟¹ is stupid, ⌞without knowledge⌟,² every goldsmith is ashamed by his divine image, for his cast image is an illusion, and there is no breath in them.

1. Literally “All humankind”
2. Literally “from knowledge”

¹⁵ They are vanity, a work of mockery, at the time of their punishment, they will perish.

¹⁶ The portion of Jacob is not like these, for he is the creator of everything, and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance, Yahweh of hosts is his name.

¹⁷ Gather your bundle from the ground, you who live under the siege.’ ”

The Nation Accepts Its Judgment

¹⁸ For thus says Yahweh, “Look, I am about to sling out the inhabitants of the land at this time, and I will bring distress to them, so that they may feel it.”

¹⁹ Woe to me, because of my wound. My wound is incurable. But I said, “Surely this is my sickness, and I must bear it.”

²⁰ My tent is devastated, and all my tent cords are torn. My children have gone out from me, and they are not. There is no one who pitches my tent again, or one who puts up my tent curtains.

²¹ For the shepherds have become stupid, they do not seek Yahweh. ⌞Therefore⌟¹ they do not have insight, and all of their flock are scattered.

1. Literally “Unto thus”

²² Listen, news:¹ Look, it is coming, a great roar from the land of the north, to make the cities of Judah a desolation, a lair of jackals.

1. Or “a report”

²³ I know, O Yahweh, that to the human is not his own way, nor to a person is the walking and the directing of his own step.

²⁴ Chastise¹ me, O Yahweh, but in moderation, not in your anger, lest you eradicate me.

1. Or “Discipline”

²⁵ Pour out your wrath on the nations that do not know you, and on the peoples that do not call on your name, for they have devoured Jacob, they have devoured and consumed him, and they have caused his settlement to be desolate.