Jer 10:1  Listen to the Message that GOD is sending your way, House of Israel.

Jer 10:2  Listen most carefully: "Don't take the godless nations as your models. Don't be impressed by their glamour and glitz, no matter how much they're impressed.

Jer 10:3  The religion of these peoples is nothing but smoke. An idol is nothing but a tree chopped down, then shaped by a woodsman's ax.

Jer 10:4  They trim it with tinsel and balls, use hammer and nails to keep it upright.

Jer 10:5  It's like a scarecrow in a cabbage patch--can't talk! Dead wood that has to be carried--can't walk! Don't be impressed by such stuff. It's useless for either good or evil."

Jer 10:6  All this is nothing compared to you, O GOD. You're wondrously great, famously great.

Jer 10:7  Who can fail to be impressed by you, King of the nations? It's your very nature to be worshiped! Look far and wide among the elite of the nations. The best they can come up with is nothing compared to you.

Jer 10:8  Stupidly, they line them up--a lineup of sticks, good for nothing but making smoke.

Jer 10:9  Gilded with silver foil from Tarshish, covered with gold from Uphaz, Hung with violet and purple fabrics-- no matter how fancy the sticks, they're still sticks.

Jer 10:10  But GOD is the real thing-- the living God, the eternal King. When he's angry, Earth shakes. Yes, and the godless nations quake.

Jer 10:11  "Tell them this: 'The stick gods who made nothing, neither sky nor earth, Will come to nothing on the earth and under the sky.'"

Jer 10:12  But it is God whose power made the earth, whose wisdom gave shape to the world, who crafted the cosmos.

Jer 10:13  He thunders, and rain pours down. He sends the clouds soaring. He embellishes the storm with lightnings, launches wind from his warehouse.

Jer 10:14  Stick-god worshipers looking mighty foolish, god-makers embarrassed by their handmade gods! Their gods are frauds--dead sticks,

Jer 10:15  deadwood gods, tasteless jokes. When the fires of judgment come, they'll be ashes.

Jer 10:16  But the Portion-of-Jacob is the real thing. He put the whole universe together And pays special attention to Israel. His name? GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies!

Jer 10:17  Grab your bags, all you who are under attack.

Jer 10:18  GOD has given notice: "Attention! I'm evicting Everyone who lives here, And right now--yes, right now! I'm going to press them to the limit, squeeze the life right out of them."

Jer 10:19  But it's a black day for me! Hopelessly wounded, I said, "Why, oh why did I think I could bear it?"

Jer 10:20  My house is ruined-- the roof caved in. Our children are gone-- we'll never see them again. No one left to help in rebuilding, no one to make a new start!

Jer 10:21  It's because our leaders are stupid. They never asked GOD for counsel, And so nothing worked right. The people are scattered all over.

Jer 10:22  But listen! Something's coming! A big commotion from the northern borders! Judah's towns about to be smashed, left to all the stray dogs and cats!

Jer 10:23  I know, GOD, that mere mortals can't run their own lives, That men and women don't have what it takes to take charge of life.

Jer 10:24  So correct us, GOD, as you see best. Don't lose your temper. That would be the end of us.

Jer 10:25  Vent your anger on the godless nations, who refuse to acknowledge you, And on the people who won't pray to you-- The very ones who've made hash out of Jacob, yes, made hash And devoured him whole, people and pastures alike.

The Message Bible

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