Yahweh Alone Is the Living God
Hear the word which Yahweh speaks to you, O house of Israel. 2 Thus says Yahweh,
“aDo not learn the way of the nations,
And do not be terrified by the signs of the heavens
Although the nations are terrified by them;
3 For the statutes of the peoples are avanity
Because bit is wood cut from the forest,
The work of the hands of a craftsman with a cutting tool.
4 They amake it beautiful with silver and with gold;
They bstrengthen it with nails and with hammers
So that it will not totter.
5 Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field are they,
And they acannot speak;
They must be bcarried
Because they cannot take a step!
Do not fear them,
For they ccan do no harm,
Nor can they do any good.”
6 aThere is none like You, O Yahweh;
You are bgreat, and great is Your name in might.
7 aWho would not fear You, O bKing of the nations?
Indeed it is Your due!
For among all the cwise men of the nations
And in all their kingdoms,
There is none like You.
8 But they are altogether asenseless and foolish;
They are in a discipline of vanities—it is mere wood!
9 Beaten asilver is brought from bTarshish,
And cgold from Uphaz,
The work of a craftsman and of the hands of a goldsmith;
Blue and purple are their clothing;
They are all the dwork of wise craftsmen.
10 But Yahweh is the atrue God;
He is the bliving God and the ceverlasting King.
At His wrath the dearth quakes,
And the nations cannot eendure His indignation.
11 Thus you shall say to them, “The agods that did not make the heavens and the earth will bperish from the earth and from under the heavens.”
12 It is aHe who made the earth by His power,
Who bestablished the world by His wisdom;
And by His understanding He has cstretched out the heavens.
13 When He gives forth His avoice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens,
And He causes the bclouds to ascend from the end of the earth;
He makes lightning for the rain,
And brings out the cwind from His storehouses.
14 Every man is asenseless, devoid of knowledge;
Every goldsmith is put to shame by his graven images;
For his molten images are a lie,
And there is no breath in them.
15 They are avanity, a work of mockery;
In the btime of their punishment they will perish.
16 The aportion of Jacob is not like these;
For the bMaker of all is He,
And cIsrael is the tribe of His inheritance;
dYahweh of hosts is His name.
17 aGather up your bundle from the ground,
You who inhabit a land under siege!
18 For thus says Yahweh,
“Behold, I am aslinging out the inhabitants of the land
At this time,
And will cause them distress,
That they may find it.”
19 aWoe is me, because of my injury!
My bwound is desperately sick.
But I said, “Truly this is a sickness,
And I cmust bear it.”
20 My atent is destroyed,
And all my ropes are torn out;
My bsons have gone from me and are no more.
There is cno one to stretch out my tent again
Or to set up my curtains.
21 For the shepherds have become senseless
And ahave not sought Yahweh;
Therefore they have not prospered,
And ball their flock is scattered.
22 The sound of a areport! Behold, it comes—
A great quaking bout of the land of the north—
To cmake the cities of Judah
A desolation, a haunt of jackals.
23 I know, O Yahweh, that aa man’s way is not in himself,
bNor is it in a man who walks to direct his steps.
24 aDiscipline me, O Yahweh, but with justice;
Not with Your anger, lest You bring me to nothing.
25 aPour out Your wrath on the nations that bdo not know You
And on the families that cdo not call Your name,
For they have devoured Jacob;
They have ddevoured him and consumed him
And have made desolate his abode.