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1 Hear ye the word of the Lord, which he has spoken to you, O house of Israel.
2 Thus saith the Lord, Learn ye not the ways of the heathen, and be not alarmed at the signs of the sky; for they are alarmed at them, falling on their faces. 3 For the customs of the nations are vain; it is a tree cut out of the forest, the work of the carpenter, or a molten image. 4 They are beautified with silver and gold, they fix them with hammers and nails; 5 they will set them up that they may not move; it is wrought silver, they will not walk, it is forged silver 9 brought from Tarshish, gold will come from Uphaz, and the work of goldsmiths: they are all the works of craftsmen, they will clothe themselves with blue and scarlet. 9a They must certainly be borne, for they cannot ride of themselves. Fear them not; for they cannot do any evil, and there is no good in them.
11 Thus shall ye say to them, Let the gods which have not made heaven and earth perish from off the earth, and from under this sky. 12 It is the Lord that made the earth by his strength, who set up the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding stretched out the sky, 13 and set abundance of waters in the sky, and brought up clouds from the ends of the earth; he made lightnings for the rain, and brought forth light out of his treasures. 14 Every man is deprived of knowledge, every goldsmith is confounded because of his graven images; for he has cast false gods, there is no breath in them. 15 They are vain works, wrought in mockery; in the time of their visitation they shall perish. 16 Such is not the portion of Jacob; for he that formed all things, he is his inheritance; the Lord is his name.
17 He has gathered thy substance from without that lodged in choice vessels. 18 For thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will overthrow the inhabitants of this land with affliction, that thy plague may be discovered.
19 Alas for thy ruin! thy plague is grievous: and I said, Surely this is thy wound, and it has overtaken thee. 20 Thy tabernacle is in a ruinous state, it has perished; and all thy curtains have been torn asunder: my children and my cattle are no more: there is no more any place for my tabernacle, nor place for my curtains. 21 For the shepherds have become foolish, and have not sought the Lord; therefore the whole pasture has failed, and the sheep have been scattered. 22 Behold, there comes a sound of a noise, and a great earthquake from the land of the north, to make the cities of Judah a desolation, and a resting place for ostriches.
23 I know, O Lord, that man’s way is not his own; neither shall a man go, and direct his going. 24 Chasten us, O Lord, but with judgment; and not in wrath, lest thou make us few. 25 Pour out thy wrath upon the nations that have not known thee, and upon the families that have not called upon thy name: for they have devoured Jacob, and consumed him, and have made his pasture desolate.