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