Jeremiah 10 :: New International Version (NIV)

God and Idols

Jer 10:1Hear what the LORD says to you, people of Israel.

Jer 10:2This is what the LORD says: “Do not learn the ways of the nations or be terrified by signs in the heavens, though the nations are terrified by them.

Jer 10:3

Jer 10:3For the practices of the peoples are worthless; they cut a tree out of the forest, and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel.

Jer 10:4

Jer 10:4They adorn it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so it will not totter.

Jer 10:5

Jer 10:5Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field, their idols cannot speak; they must be carried because they cannot walk. Do not fear them; they can do no harm nor can they do any good.”

Jer 10:6

Jer 10:6No one is like you, LORD; you are great, and your name is mighty in power.

Jer 10:7

Jer 10:7Who should not fear you, King of the nations? This is your due. Among all the wise leaders of the nations and in all their kingdoms, there is no one like you.

Jer 10:8

Jer 10:8They are all senseless and foolish; they are taught by worthless wooden idols.

Jer 10:9

Jer 10:9Hammered silver is brought from Tarshish and gold from Uphaz. What the craftsman and goldsmith have made is then dressed in blue and purple— all made by skilled workers.

Jer 10:10

Jer 10:10But the LORD is the true God; he is the living God, the eternal King. When he is angry, the earth trembles; the nations cannot endure his wrath.

Jer 10:11

Jer 10:11“Tell them this: ‘These gods, who did not make the heavens and the earth, will perish from the earth and from under the heavens.’ ”[fn]

Jer 10:12

Jer 10:12But God made the earth by his power; he founded the world by his wisdom and stretched out the heavens by his understanding.

Jer 10:13

Jer 10:13When he thunders, the waters in the heavens roar; he makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth. He sends lightning with the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses.

Jer 10:14

Jer 10:14Everyone is senseless and without knowledge; every goldsmith is shamed by his idols. The images he makes are a fraud; they have no breath in them.

Jer 10:15

Jer 10:15They are worthless, the objects of mockery; when their judgment comes, they will perish.

Jer 10:16

Jer 10:16He who is the Portion of Jacob is not like these, for he is the Maker of all things, including Israel, the people of his inheritance— the LORD Almighty is his name.

Coming Destruction

Jer 10:17

Jer 10:17Gather up your belongings to leave the land, you who live under siege.

Jer 10:18

Jer 10:18For this is what the LORD says: “At this time I will hurl out those who live in this land; I will bring distress on them so that they may be captured.”

Jer 10:19

Jer 10:19Woe to me because of my injury! My wound is incurable! Yet I said to myself, “This is my sickness, and I must endure it.”

Jer 10:20

Jer 10:20My tent is destroyed; all its ropes are snapped. My children are gone from me and are no more; no one is left now to pitch my tent or to set up my shelter.

Jer 10:21

Jer 10:21The shepherds are senseless and do not inquire of the LORD; so they do not prosper and all their flock is scattered.

Jer 10:22

Jer 10:22Listen! The report is coming— a great commotion from the land of the north! It will make the towns of Judah desolate, a haunt of jackals.

Jeremiah’s Prayer

Jer 10:23

Jer 10:23LORD, I know that people’s lives are not their own; it is not for them to direct their steps.

Jer 10:24

Jer 10:24Discipline me, LORD, but only in due measure— not in your anger, or you will reduce me to nothing.

Jer 10:25

Jer 10:25Pour out your wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge you, on the peoples who do not call on your name. For they have devoured Jacob; they have devoured him completely and destroyed his homeland.

See the NIV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).

NIV Footnotes

(10:11)

The text of this verse is in Aramaic.

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