The Sovereignty of God

1Hear you the word which the LORD speaks to you, O house of Israel:

2Thus said 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.

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

4They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.

5They 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.

6For as much as there is none like to you, O LORD; you are great, and your name is great in might.

7Who would not fear you, O King of nations? for to you does it appertain: for as much as among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like to you.

8But they are altogether brutish and foolish: the stock is a doctrine of vanities.

9Silver 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.

10But 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.

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

12He has made the earth by his power, he has established the world by his wisdom, and has stretched out the heavens by his discretion.

13When he utters his voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens, and he causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; he makes lightning with rain, and brings forth the wind out of his treasures.

14Every 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.

15They are vanity, and the work of errors: in the time of their visitation they shall perish.

16The 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.

The Coming Destruction

17Gather up your wares out of the land, O inhabitant of the fortress.

18For thus said 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.

19Woe is me for my hurt! my wound is grievous; but I said, Truly this is a grief, and I must bear it.

20My 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.

21For the pastors are become brutish, and have not sought the LORD: therefore they shall not prosper, and all their flocks shall be scattered.

22Behold, 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.

Jeremiah's Prayer

23O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walks to direct his steps.

24O LORD, correct me, but with judgment; not in your anger, lest you bring me to nothing.

25Pour out your fury on the heathen that know you not, and on the families that call not on your name: for they have eaten up Jacob, and devoured him, and consumed him, and have made his habitation desolate.