| 1: Hear ye the word which the LORD speaketh unto you, O house
of Israel: |
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| 2: 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. |
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| 3:
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.
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| 4: They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with
nails and with hammers, that it move not. |
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| 5: 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. |
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| 6: Forasmuch as there is none like unto thee, O LORD; thou art
great, and thy name is great in might. |
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| 7: 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. |
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| 8: But they are altogether brutish and foolish: the stock is a
doctrine of vanities. |
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| 9: 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.
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 15: They are vanity, and the work of errors: in the time of their
visitation they shall perish. |
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| 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. |
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| 17: Gather up thy wares out of the land, O inhabitant of the
fortress. |
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| 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. |
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| 19: Woe is me for my hurt! my wound is grievous: but I said,
Truly this is a grief, and I must bear it. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 24: O LORD, correct me, but with judgment; not in thine anger,
lest thou bring me to nothing. |
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| 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. |
