1 H ear the word which Yahweh speaks to you, house of Israel!

2 Y ahweh says, “Don’t learn the way of the nations, and don’t be dismayed at the signs of the sky; for the nations are dismayed at 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 ax.

4 T hey deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it not move.

5 T hey are like a palm tree, of turned work, and don’t speak: they must be carried, because they can’t go. Don’t be afraid of them; for they can’t do evil, neither is it in them to do good.”

6 T here is no one like you, Yahweh; you are great, and your name is great in might.

7 W ho should not fear you, King of the nations? For it belongs to you; because among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their royal estate, there is no one like you.

8 B ut they are together brutish and foolish: the instruction of idols! it is but a stock.

9 T here is silver beaten into plates, which is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the artificer and of the hands of the goldsmith; blue and purple for their clothing; they are all the work of skillful men.

10 B ut Yahweh is the true God; he is the living God, and an everlasting King: at his wrath the earth trembles, and the nations are not able to withstand his indignation.

11 Y ou shall say this to them: The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, these shall perish from the earth, and from under the heavens.

12 H e has made the earth by his power, he has established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding has he stretched out the heavens:

13 w hen he utters his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; he makes lightnings for the rain, and brings the wind out of his treasuries.

14 E very man has become brutish and without knowledge; every goldsmith is disappointed by his engraved image; for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.

15 T hey are vanity, a work of delusion: in the time of their visitation they shall perish.

16 T he portion of Jacob is not like these; for he is the former of all things; and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance: Yahweh of Armies is his name.

17 G ather up your wares out of the land, you who live under siege.

18 F or Yahweh says, Behold, I will sling out the inhabitants of the land at this time, and will distress them, that they may feel it.

19 W oe is me because of my hurt! my wound is grievous: but I said, Truly this is my grief, and I must bear it.

20 M y tent is destroyed, and all my cords are broken: my children have gone away from me, and they are no more. There is no one to spread my tent any more, and to set up my curtains.

21 F or the shepherds are become brutish, and have not inquired of Yahweh: therefore they have not prospered, and all their flocks are scattered.

22 T he voice of news, behold, it comes, and a great commotion out of the north country, to make the cities of Judah a desolation, a dwelling place of jackals.

23 Y ahweh, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man who walks to direct his steps.

24 Y ahweh, correct me, but in measure: not in your anger, lest you bring me to nothing.

25 P our out your wrath on the nations that don’t know you, and on the families that don’t call on your name: for they have devoured Jacob, yes, they have devoured him and consumed him, and have laid waste his habitation.