Jeremiah 10:1-16 - False Gods Contrasted With The Creator
1 Hear the word that Yahweh speaks to you, house of Israel. 2 Thus says Yahweh: "You must not learn the way of the nations, and you must not be dismayed by the signs of the heavens, for the nations are dismayed by them. 3 For the statutes of the peoples [are] vanity, for it [is] a tree cut down from [the] forest, [the] work of [the] hands of a craftsman with the tool. 4 He decorates it with silver and gold, they strengthen it with nails and hammers, so that it does not stagger. 5 They [are] like scarecrows in a cucumber field, they cannot speak. Indeed, they must be carried, for they cannot march. You must not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil; furthermore, to do good [is] not in them."
6 There is none like you, Yahweh, you [are] great and your name [is] great in might. 7 Who would not revere you, O king of the nations? For you it is fitting. For among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like you. 8 {At the same time} they are stupid and foolish, [in the] instruction of idols, it [is] wood. 9 Silver beaten from Tarshish is brought, and gold from Uphaz, the work of [the] craftsman and [the] hands of the goldsmith. Blue and purple [are] their clothing, all of them [are] the work of skillful people. 10 But Yahweh [is] the true God, he [is] the living God, and {an everlasting king}. Because of his wrath the earth quakes, and [the] nations cannot endure his anger.
11 "{Thus} you shall say to them, 'Gods who did not make the heavens and the earth will perish from the earth and from under these heavens.
12 [He is] the maker of [the] earth by his power, [who] created the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding he stretched out heaven. 13 {When he utters his voice} [there is] a noise of water in the heavens, and he causes [the] mist to rise from [the] ends of the earth. He makes lightning for the rain, and he causes [the] wind to go out from his storehouses.
14 {Everyone} is stupid, {without knowledge}, every goldsmith is ashamed by [his] divine image, for his cast image [is] an illusion, and [there is] no breath in them. 15 They [are] vanity, a work of mockery, at the time of their punishment, they will perish. 16 The portion of Jacob [is] not like these, for he [is] the creator of everything, and Israel [is] the tribe of his inheritance, Yahweh of hosts [is] his name.