Living God or human handiwork

¹Listen to the word that the LORD has spoken to you, people of Israel!

²The LORD proclaims:

Don’t follow the ways of the nations

or be troubled by signs in the sky,

³The rituals of the nations are hollow:

a tree from the forest is chopped down

⁴It’s overlaid with silver and gold,

and fastened securely with hammer and nails

⁵They are no different than a scarecrow

in a cucumber patch:

they can’t speak;

they must be carried

Don’t be afraid of them,

because they can’t do harm or good.

⁶LORD , no one is like you!

You are great,

and great is your mighty name.

⁷Who wouldn’t fear you,

king of the nations?

That is your due;

among all the wise of the nations

and in all their countries,

⁸But they are both foolish and silly;

they offer nothing

⁹Covered with silver from Tarshish

and gold from Uphaz,

Clothed in blue and purple,

all of them nothing more than the work of artisans.

¹⁰But the LORD is the true God!

He’s the living God and the everlasting king!

When he’s angry, the earth quakes;

the nations can’t endure his rage.

¹¹Tell them this: The gods who didn’t make the heavens and the earth will perish from the earth and from under the heavens.[#10.11 10:11 is written in Aramaic.]

¹²But God made the earth by his might;

he shaped the world by his wisdom,

crafted the skies by his knowledge.

¹³At the sound of his voice,

the heavenly waters roar.

He raises the clouds from the ends of the earth.

He sends the lightning with the rain,

the wind from his treasuries.

¹⁴Everyone is too foolish to understand;

every goldsmith is dishonored by his idols,

¹⁵They are a delusion, a charade;

¹⁶Jacob’s portion is utterly different

because God has formed all things,

Get ready for exile!

¹⁷Pack your bags and get ready to leave,

you who live under siege.

¹⁸The LORD proclaims:

I’m going to eject those who live in the land at this time;

I will badger them until they leave.

¹⁹How terrible for me, due to my injury;

my wound is terrible.

Yet I said to myself:

This is my sickness,

²⁰But now my tent is destroyed;

all its ropes are cut,

There’s no one left to set up my tent frame

²¹The shepherd kings have lost their senses

and don’t seek answers from the LORD .

That is why they have failed

and their flock is scattered.

²²Listen! The sound is getting louder,

a mighty uproar from the land of the north;

it will reduce the towns of Judah to ruins,

²³I know, LORD , that our lives are not our own,

that we’re not able to direct our paths.

²⁴So correct me, LORD , but with justice,

not in your anger,

²⁵Pour out your wrath on the nations

and on the people