The Worthlessness of Others’ Gods, and the Everlasting Power of God

Jeremiah 10:1–10

Biblical Period

1Hear the word which the Lord has spoken to you, O House of Israel!

2Thus said the Lord:
Do not learn to go the way of the nations,
And do not be dismayed by portents in the sky;
Let the nations be dismayed by them!
3For the laws of the nations are delusions:
For it is the work of a craftsman’s hands.
He cuts down a tree in the forest with an ax,
4He adorns it with silver and gold,
He fastens it with nails and hammer,
So that it does not totter.
5They are like a scarecrow in a cucumber patch,
They cannot speak.
They have to be carried,
For they cannot walk.
Be not afraid of them, for they can do no harm;
Nor is it in them to do any good.
6O Lord, there is none like You!
You are great and Your name is great in power.
7Who would not revere You, O King of the nations?
For that is Your due,
Since among all the wise of the nations
And among all their royalty
There is none like You.
8But they are both dull and foolish;
[Their] doctrine is but delusion;
It is a piece of wood,
9Silver beaten flat, that is brought from Tarshish,
And gold from Uphaz,
The work of a craftsman and the goldsmith’s hands;
Their clothing is blue and purple,
All of them are the work of skilled men.
10But the Lord is truly God:
He is a living God,
The everlasting King.
At His wrath, the earth quakes,
And nations cannot endure His rage.

Credits

Reprinted from Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures by permission of the University of Nebraska Press. Copyright 1985 by the Jewish Publication Society, Philadelphia.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 1.

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Related Guide

Jeremiah and the Destruction of the First Temple

Jeremiah engaged in debates with royal officials and with other prophets in Jerusalem, urged submission to Babylonia, and was repeatedly imprisoned as a traitor. 

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