1Hear you° the word of the Lord, which he has spoken to you, O house of Israel.
2Thus says the Lord, Learn you° not the ways of the heathen, and be not alarmed at the signs of the sky; for they are alarmed at them, falling on their faces.
3For the customs of the nations are vain; it is a tree cut out of the forest, the work of the carpenter, or a molten image.
4They are beautified with silver and gold, they fix them with hammers and nails;
5they will set them up that they may not move; it is wrought silver, they will not walk, it is forged silver They must certainly be borne, for they can’t ride of themselves. Fear them not; for they can’t do any evil, and there is no good in them.
11Thus shall you° say to them, Let the gods which have not made heaven and earth perish from off the earth, and from under this sky.
12It is the Lord that made the earth by his strength, who set up the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding stretched out the sky,
13and set abundance of waters in the sky, and brought up clouds from the ends of the earth; he made lightnings for the rain, and brought forth light out of his treasures.
14Every man is deprived of knowledge, every goldsmith is confounded because of his graven images; for he has cast false gods, there is no breath in them.
15They are vain works, wrought in mockery; in the time of their visitation they shall perish.
16Such is not the portion of Jacob; for he that formed all things, he is his inheritance; the Lord is his name.
17He has gathered your substance from without the lodged in choice vessels.
18For thus says the Lord, Behold, I will overthrow the inhabitants of this land with affliction, that your plague may be discovered.
19Alas for your ruin! your plague is grievous: and I said, Surely this is your wound, and it has overtaken you.
20Your tabernacle is in a ruinous state, it has perished; and all your curtains have been torn asunder: my children and my cattle are no more: there is no more any place for my tabernacle, nor place for my curtains.
21For the shepherds have become foolish, and have not sought the Lord; therefore the whole pasture has failed, and the sheep have been scattered.
22Behold, there comes a sound of a noise, and a great earthquake from the land of the north, to make the cities of Juda a desolation, and a resting-place for ostriches.
23I know, O Lord, that man's way is not his own; neither shall a man go, and direct his going.
24Chasten us, O Lord, but with judgement; and not in wrath, lest you make us few.
25Pour out your wrath upon the nations that have not known you, and upon the families that have not called upon your name: for they have devoured Jacob, and consumed him, and have made his pasture desolate.
