The Preacher's Bible

Hear the word which Jehovah speaks to you, house of Israel!

²Jehovah says, “Don’t learn the way of the nations, and don’t be dismayed at the signs of the sky; for the nations are dismayed at them.

³For the customs of the peoples are vanity; for one cuts a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman with the ax.

⁴They deck it with silver and with gold. They fasten it with nails and with hammers, so that it can’t move.

⁵They are like a palm tree, of turned work, and don’t speak. They must be carried, because they can’t move. Don’t be afraid of them; for they can’t do evil, neither is it in them to do good.”

⁶There is no one like you, Jehovah. You are great, and your name is great in might.

⁷Who shouldn’t fear you, King of the nations? For it belongs to you. Because among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their royal estate, there is no one like you.

⁸But they are together brutish and foolish, instructed by idols! It is just wood.

⁹There is silver beaten into plates, which is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the engraver and of the hands of the goldsmith. Their clothing is blue and purple. They are all the work of skillful men.

¹⁰But Jehovah is the true God. He is the living God, and an everlasting King. At his wrath, the earth trembles. The nations aren’t able to withstand his indignation. ¹¹“You shall say this to them: ‘The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth will perish from the earth, and from under the heavens.’”

¹²God has made the earth by his power. He has established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding has he stretched out the heavens.

¹³When he utters his voice, the waters in the heavens roar, and he causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth. He makes lightnings for the rain, and brings the wind out of his treasuries.

¹⁴Every man has become brutish and without knowledge. Every goldsmith is disappointed by his engraved image; for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.

¹⁵They are vanity, a work of delusion. In the time of their visitation they will perish.

¹⁶The portion of Jacob is not like these; for he is the maker of all things; and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance. Jehovah of Armies is his name.

¹⁷Gather up your wares out of the land, you who live under siege.

¹⁸For Jehovah says, “Behold, I will sling out the inhabitants of the land at this time, and will distress them, that they may feel it.”

¹⁹Woe is me because of my injury! My wound is serious; but I said, “Truly this is my grief, and I must bear it.”

²⁰My tent has been destroyed, and all my cords are broken. My children have gone away from me, and they are no more. There is no one to spread my tent any more, to set up my curtains.

²¹For the shepherds have become brutish, and have not inquired of Jehovah. Therefore they have not prospered, and all their flocks have scattered.

²²The voice of news, behold, it comes, and a great commotion out of the north country, to make the cities of Judah a desolation, a dwelling place of jackals.

²³Jehovah, I know that the way of man is not in himself. It is not in man who walks to direct his steps.

²⁴Jehovah, correct me, but gently; not in your anger, lest you reduce me to nothing.

²⁵Pour out your wrath on the nations that don’t know you, and on the families that don’t call on your name; for they have devoured Jacob. Yes, they have devoured him, consumed him, and have laid waste his habitation.