1 ¶ Hear ye the word which the LORD has spoken over you, O house of Israel:

2 T hus hath the LORD said, Do not learn the way of the Gentiles, and do not fear the signs of heaven, even though the Gentiles fear them.

3 F or 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 T hey deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails, that it not move.

5 T hey compare them to the palm tree, and they do not speak: they must be carried, because they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither do they have power to do good.

6 F orasmuch as there is none like unto thee, O LORD; thou art great, and thy name is great in might.

7 W ho would not fear thee, O King of the Gentiles? for unto thee does it appertain: forasmuch as among all the wise men of the Gentiles and in all their kingdoms, there is none like unto thee.

8 B ut they shall become altogether carnal and foolish. The stock is a doctrine of vanities.

9 S ilver spread into plates shall be brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, shall the workman work and the hands of the founder: they shall dress them in blue and purple: they are all the work of cunning men.

10 B ut the LORD God is the Truth, he himself is Living God and Everlasting King: at his wrath the earth trembles, and the Gentiles shall not be able to abide his indignation.

11 T hus shall ye say unto them, The gods that have not made the heavens or the earth, even they shall perish from the earth and from under these heavens.

12 H e that makes the earth by his power, he that orders the world with his wisdom and extends the heavens with his intelligence:

13 a t his voice, there is given a multitude of waters in the heavens, and he causes the clouds to ascend from the ends of the earth; he makes the lightnings with the rain and brings forth the wind out of his treasures.

14 E very man is carnal in his knowledge: let every founder be ashamed of his graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no spirit in them.

15 T hey are vanity and the work of scorn: in the time of their visitation they shall perish.

16 T he portion of Jacob is not like them: for he is the Former of all things, and Israel is the rod of his inheritance: The LORD of the hosts is his name.

17 ¶ Gather up thy wares out of the lands, O inhabitant of the fortress.

18 F or thus hath the LORD said, Behold, that this time I will throw out the inhabitants of the land with a sling and will afflict them, that they may find it.

19 W oe is me for my hurt! my wound is grievous, but I said, Truly this is my sickness, and I must bear it.

20 M y tent is destroyed, and all my cords are broken: my sons were taken from me, and they are lost; there is no one to stretch forth my tent any more and to set up my curtains.

21 F or the pastors are become carnal and have not sought the LORD; therefore they did not understand, and all their flocks scattered.

22 B ehold, the voice of the rumour is come, and a great commotion out of the land of the north wind to make the cities of Judah desolate and a den of dragons.

23 O LORD, I know that man is not the lord of his own way: it is not in man that walks to order his steps.

24 O LORD, chastise me, but with judgment; not with thine anger lest thou bring me to nothing.

25 P our out thy fury upon the Gentiles that do not know thee and upon the nations that do not call on thy name: for they have eaten up Jacob and devoured him and consumed him and have destroyed his habitation.