[1] Give ear to the word which the Lord says to you, O people of Israel:
[2] This is what the Lord has said: Do not go in the way of the nations;
have no fear of the signs of heaven, for the nations go in fear of them.
[3] For that which is feared by the people is foolish: it is the work of
the hands of the workman; for a tree is cut down by him out of the woods
with his axe. [4] They make it beautiful with silver and gold; they make it
strong with nails and hammers, so that it may not be moved. [5] It is like
a pillar in a garden of plants, and has no voice: it has to be lifted, for
it has no power of walking. Have no fear of it; for it has no power of
doing evil and it is not able to do any good. [6] There is no one like you,
O Lord; you are great and your name is great in power. [7] Who would not
have fear of you, O King of the nations? for it is your right: for among
all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is no one
like you. [8] But they are together like beasts and foolish: the teaching
of false gods is wood. [9] Silver hammered into plates is sent from
Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the expert workman and of the
hands of the gold-worker; blue and purple is their clothing, all the work
of expert men. [10] But the Lord is the true God; he is the living God and
an eternal king: when he is angry, the earth is shaking with fear, and the
nations give way before his wrath. [11] This is what you are to say to
them: The gods who have not made the heavens and the earth will be cut off
from the earth and from under the heavens. [12] He has made the earth by
his power, he has made the world strong in its place by his wisdom, and by
his wise design the heavens have been stretched out. [13] At the sound of
his voice there is a massing of waters in the heavens, and he makes the
mists go up from the ends of the earth; he makes the thunder-flames for the
rain, and sends out the wind from his store-houses. [14] Then every man
becomes like a beast without knowledge; every gold-worker is put to shame
by the image he has made: for his metal image is deceit, and there is no
breath in them. [15] They are nothing, a work of error: in the time of
their punishment, destruction will overtake them. [16] The heritage of
Jacob is not like these; for the maker of all things is his heritage: the
Lord of armies is his name. [17] Get your goods together and go out of the
land, O you who are shut up in the walled town. [18] For the Lord has said,
I will send the people in flight like a stone from the land at this time,
troubling them so that they will be conscious of it. [19] Sorrow is mine
for I am wounded! my wound may not be made well; and I said, Cruel is my
disease, I may not be free from it. [20] My tent is pulled down and all my
cords are broken: my children have gone from me, and they are not: no
longer is there anyone to give help in stretching out my tent and hanging
up my curtains. [21] For the keepers of the sheep have become like beasts,
not looking to the Lord for directions: so they have not done wisely and
all their flocks have been put to flight. [22] News is going about, see, it
is coming, a great shaking is coming from the north country, so that the
towns of Judah may be made waste and become the living-place of jackals.
[23] O Lord, I am conscious that a man's way is not in himself: man has no
power of guiding his steps. [24] O Lord, put me right, but with wise
purpose; not in your wrath, or you will make me small. [25] Let your wrath
be let loose on the nations which have no knowledge of you, and on the
families who give no worship to your name: for they have made a meal of
Jacob, truly they have made a meal of him and put an end to him and made
his fields a waste.
