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¹ Hear ye the word which Yahweh hath spoken unto you, O house of Israel: - ² Thus, saith Yahweh - Unto the way of the nations, become not ye accustomed, Nor at the signs of the heavens, be ye dismayed, - Because the nations are dismayed at them.³ For as for the prescribed customs of the peoples, vanity, they are, - For a tree out of the forest, one cutteth down, Work for the hands of a skilled workman with the axe:⁴ With silver and with gold, he decketh it, - With nails and with hammers, they fasten them, that it may not totter.⁵ Mere palm-trunks turned, they are and cannot speak, They must needs be, carried, for they cannot take a step, Be not afraid of them, for they cannot do harm, And even to do good, is not in their power.⁶ None, there is, like unto thee, O Yahweh, - Great, art, thou, And, great, is thy Name, for might.⁷ Who would not revere thee, O King of nations? For, thee, doth it beseem; Forasmuch as among all the wise men of the nations And throughout all their royal estate, None, there is like unto thee.⁸ But at once, do they become brutish and stupid, - An example of utmost vanity, is, a tree!⁹ Silver spread into plates, from Tarshish is brought, And gold, from Uphaz, Work for the craftsman and for the hands of the smith, - Blue and purple, is their clothing, Work for the skilled, are they all.¹⁰ But, Yahweh, is God in truth, He, is a God that, liveth, And a King of times age-abiding, - At his anger, quaketh the earth, And nations cannot endure his wrath.¹¹ Thus, shall ye say unto them, The gods that made not the heavens, And the earth, Shall perish out of the earth, And from under these heavens!¹² He that made the earth by his power, That established the world by his wisdom, - And by his understanding stretched out the heavens,¹³ At the voice that he uttered, there was a tumult of waters in the heavens, And he caused vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth, - The lightnings for rain, he made, And brought forth wind out of his treasuries. ¹⁴ Every son of earth hath become too brutish to discern, Every goldsmith, hath been put to shame by a graven image, - For a falsehood, is his molten image, Seeing there is no breath in them.¹⁵ Vanity, they are, the handiwork of mockeries, - In the time of their visitation, shall they perish.¹⁶ Not like these, is the portion of Jacob, For the fashioner of all things, is, he, And, Israel, is his inherited sceptre, - Yahweh of hosts, is his name.

¹⁷ Fold up, from the ground thy travelling carpet, - O inhabitress of the fortress;¹⁸ For, thus, saith Yahweh, Behold me! slinging out the inhabitants of the land at this throw, - And I will distress them that they may discover it.¹⁹ Woe to me! for my grievous injury, Severe, is my wound, - But, I, said, Verily, this, is an affliction and I must bear it:²⁰ My tent, is laid waste, And all my tent-cords, are broken, - My children, are gone forth from me and they, are not. There is none, To stretch out any more my tent, Or to set up my curtains.²¹ For the shepherds, have become brutish, And Yahweh, have they not sought, - For this cause, have they not prospered, And, all their flock, is scattered.²² The noise of a rumour! lo it hath come! Even a great commotion out of the land of the North, - To make the cities of Judah, A desolation, A den of jackals.²³ I know O Yahweh, That not to a son of earth, pertaineth his own path, - Not, to the man who walketh, also to direct his own steps.²⁴ Chastise me, O Yahweh But yet in measure, - Not in thine anger, lest thou make me few.²⁵ Pour out thy wrath - Upon the nations that know thee not, and Upon the families that, upon thy Name, have not called, - For they have devoured Jacob Yea they have devoured him and consumed him, And, his habitation, have they made desolate.