1 Hear the Word which Jehovah speaks to you, O house of Israel.

2 Thus says Jehovah, Do not learn the way of the nations, and do not be dismayed at the signs of the heavens; for the nations are dismayed at them.

3 For the customs of the people are vain; for one cuts a tree out of the forest with the ax, the work of the hands of the craftsman.

4 They make it beautiful with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and hammers, so that it will not totter.

5 They are crafted into hammered work like a palm tree, and they cannot speak. They must be lifted up and carried, because they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of them; for they are not able to do evil, neither is it in them to do good.

6 There is none like You, O Jehovah; You are great, and Your name is great in might.

7 Who would not fear You, O King of nations? For fear is befitting to You, because among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like You.

8 But they are, every one of them, dull-hearted and foolish; a piece of wood is a discipline in vanities.

9 Silver beaten into plates is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the craftsman, and of the hands of the goldsmith. Violet and purple is their clothing; they are all the work of skillful ones.

10 But Jehovah is the true God, He is the living God, and the eternal King. At His wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to endure His indignation.

11 So you shall say to them, The gods who have not made the heavens and the earth, they shall perish from the earth and from under these heavens.

12 He has made the earth by His power; He has established the world by His wisdom, and has stretched out the heavens by His understanding.

13 When He utters His voice, there is the noise of much water in the heavens. He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; He makes lightnings with the rain, and brings forth the wind out of His treasures.

14 Every man is stupid in his knowledge; every refiner is dried up by the graven image; for his molten image is a lie, and no breath is in them.

15 They are vanity, the work of delusion; in the time of their judgment they shall perish.

16 The Portion of Jacob is not like them; for He is the Maker of all things; and Israel is the rod of His inheritance. Jehovah of Hosts is His name.

17 Gather up your bundle from the ground, you who live under the siege.

18 For thus says Jehovah, Behold, I will sling out the inhabitants of the land this once, and will distress them, so that they may find Me.

19 Woe to me for my ruin! My wound makes me sick. But I said, Surely this is an infirmity, and I must bear it.

20 My tent is plundered, and all my cords are broken; my children have gone away from me, and they are not. There is no one to stretch out my tent any more, and to set up my curtains.

21 For the shepherds have become stupid, and have not sought Jehovah, therefore they shall not prosper, and all their flocks shall be scattered.

22 Behold, the sound of the report has come, and a great commotion out of the land of the north, to make the cities of Judah a desolation, a den of dragons.

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

24 O Jehovah, correct me, but with justice; not in Your anger, lest You bring me to nothing.

25 Pour out Your fury on the nations who do not know You, and on the families who do not call on Your name; for they have eaten up Jacob and have devoured him, and have destroyed him, and have made his dwelling place desolate.