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¹ Hear ye the word which Jehovah speaketh unto you, O house of Israel: ² thus saith Jehovah, Learn not the way of the nations, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the nations are dismayed at them. ³ For the ^[a]customs of the peoples are vanity; for ^[b]one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman with the axe. ⁴ They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not. ⁵ They are like a ^[c]palm-tree, of turned work, and speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither is it in them to do good.

⁶ There is none like unto thee, O Jehovah; thou art great, and thy name is great in might. ⁷ Who should not fear thee, O King of the nations? for ^[d]to thee doth it appertain; forasmuch as among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their royal estate, there is none like unto thee. ⁸ But they are ^[e]together brutish and foolish: ^[f]the instruction of idols! it is but a stock. ⁹ There is silver beaten into plates, which is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the artificer and of the hands of the goldsmith; blue and purple for their clothing; they are all the work of skilful men. ¹⁰ But Jehovah is ^[g]the true God; he is the living God, and an everlasting King: at his wrath the earth trembleth, and the nations are not able to abide his indignation.

^11 [h]Thus shall ye say unto them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, ^[i]these shall perish from the earth, and from under the heavens.

¹² He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding hath he stretched out the heavens. ^13 [j]When he uttereth his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he causeth the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; he maketh lightnings for the rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasuries. ¹⁴ Every man ^[k]is become brutish and is without knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his graven image; for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them. ¹⁵ They are vanity, a work of ^[l]delusion: in the time of their visitation they shall perish. ¹⁶ The portion of Jacob is not like these; for he is the former of all things; and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance: Jehovah of hosts is his name.

¹⁷ Gather up ^[m]thy wares out of the land, ^[n]O thou that abidest in the siege. ¹⁸ For thus saith Jehovah, Behold, I will sling out the inhabitants of the land at this time, and will distress them, that they may ^[o]feel it.

¹⁹ Woe is me because of my hurt! my wound is grievous: but I said, Truly this is my ^[p]grief, and I must bear it. ²⁰ My tent is destroyed, and all my cords are broken: my children are gone forth from me, and they are not: there is none to spread my tent any more, and to set up my curtains. ²¹ For the shepherds are become brutish, and have not inquired of Jehovah: therefore they have not ^[q]prospered, and all their flocks are scattered. ²² The voice of tidings, behold, it cometh, and a great commotion out of the north country, to make the cities of Judah a desolation, a dwelling-place of jackals.

²³ O Jehovah, I know that the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps. ²⁴ O Jehovah, correct me, but in ^[r]measure; not in thine anger, lest thou ^[s]bring me to nothing. ²⁵ Pour out thy wrath upon the nations that know thee not, and upon the families that call not on thy name; for they have devoured Jacob, yea, they have devoured him and consumed him, and have laid waste his ^[t]habitation.