Hear ye
the word which the Lord speaketh unto you, O
house of Israel:
02 Thus saith the Lord, Learn not the way of the
heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of
heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.
03 For the customs of the people are vain: for
one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of
the hands of the workman, with the axe.
04 They deck it with silver and with gold; they
fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it
move not.
05 They are upright as the palm tree, but speak
not: they must needs be borne, because they
cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot
do evil, neither also is it in them to do good.
06 Forasmuch as there is none like unto thee, O
Lord; thou art great, and thy name is great in
might.
07 Who would not fear thee, O King of nations?
for to thee doth it appertain: forasmuch as among
all the wise men of the nations, and in all their
kingdoms, there is none like unto thee.
08 But they are altogether brutish and foolish:
the stock is a doctrine of vanities.
09 Silver spread into plates is brought from
Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the
workman, and of the hands of the founder: blue
and purple is their clothing: they are all the
work of cunning men.
10 But the Lord is the true God, he is the living
God, and an everlasting king: at his wrath the
earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be
able to abide his indignation.
11 Thus shall ye say unto them, The gods that
have not made the heavens and the earth, even
they shall perish from the earth, and from under
these heavens.
12 He hath made the earth by his power, he hath
established the world by his wisdom, and hath
stretched out the heavens by his discretion.
13 When he uttereth his voice, there is a
multitude of waters in the heavens, and he
causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of
the earth; he maketh lightnings with rain, and
bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures.
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14 Every man is brutish in his knowledge: every
founder is confounded by the graven image: for
his molten image is falsehood, and there is no
breath in them.
15 They are vanity, and the work of errors: in
the time of their visitation they shall perish.
16 The 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 hosts is his
name.
17 Gather up thy wares out of the land, O
inhabitant of the fortress.
18 For thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will sling
out the inhabitants of the land at this once, and
will distress them, that they may find it so.
19 Woe is me for my hurt! my wound is grievous;
but I said, Truly this is a grief, and I must
bear it.
20 My tabernacle is spoiled, and all my cords are
broken: my children are gone forth of me, and
they are not: there is none to stretch forth my
tent any more, and to set up my curtains.
21 For the pastors are become brutish, and have
not sought the Lord: therefore they shall not
prosper, and all their flocks shall be scattered.
22 Behold, the noise of the bruit is come, and a
great commotion out of the north country, to make
the cities of Judah desolate, and a den of
dragons.
23 O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in
himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct
his steps.
24 O Lord, correct me, but with judgment; not in
thine anger, lest thou bring me to nothing.
25 Pour out thy fury upon the heathen that know
thee not, and upon the families that call not on
thy name: for they have eaten up Jacob, and
devoured him, and consumed him, and have made his
habitation desolate.
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