Images can not help you
1People of Israel, listen to what the Lord tells you. 2He says:
‘Don't do what the Gentiles do.
Don't be afraid of signs in the sky.
The Gentiles are afraid of them.
3Everything that the Gentiles do
is like wind. Someone cuts down a tree
in the forest and an artisan uses an axe
to make an idol of it.
4He covers it with silver and gold
and uses a hammer and nails
to fasten their idol to the floor
so that it will not fall over.
5The image stands like a pillar
that someone has covered with gold.
It can not talk and someone must carry it
because it can not walk.
Do not be afraid of images.
They can not do anything, not good or bad.’
Jeremiah praises the Lord
6‘Lord, no one is like You. You are great,
and everyone knows that You are strong.
7You are the King of all nations,
and everyone must honour You
because among all the wise men
and among all the kings of the nations
there is no one like You.’
8The Gentiles are foolish and stupid,
because their gods can not
teach them anything.
Their gods are just pieces of worthless wood.
9The people bring silver
from the land of Tarshish,
they cover the images with silver and gold
and they put clothes on the images,
clothes made of blue and red wool.
It is artisans who do all this work.
10But the Lord is the true living God.
He rules forever and all the people
on the earth tremble when He is angry.
11You must tell the Gentiles
that their gods did not make heaven and earth,
and their gods will disappear from the earth.
12The Lord made the earth and heaven.
He did it with his power and wisdom.
13When He talks, the waters in heaven
make a loud_noise.
He brings clouds from far over the earth,
and He brings lightning and makes the winds blow.
14But people who make images and serve them
are foolish. They know nothing.
Those images can do nothing for them.
They are not alive. They are dead.
15They are like wind that stops.
People laugh at them, and they will disappear.
16But the God_of_Jacob is not like those images
because He made everything.
The Israelites are his own people.
His name is the Lord who rules over all.
Lord, please do not be too angry with us
17People of Judah, the enemies
are around you. Go and take
everything that you can carry with you
18because the Lord says that
He will throw away the people
who live in this land.
He will throw them far away
like when someone throws a stone with a sling.
He has brought enemies to catch
the people of Judah in their towns
and cities and to take them away.
19The people of Judah and Jerusalem will say:
‘We are suffering, we are wounded
and we are almost dead.
We thought that the pain would not be too much,
20but now we are like people
whose tents are destroyed.
The ropes of the tents are broken,
our sons are gone, and there is no one
who can help us put up our tents.’
21This has happened because the leaders
have become like those foolish shepherds
who do not ask the Lord what they must do.
That is why everything goes wrong for them
and the enemies
chase their people away like sheep.
22I hear the enemies coming from the north.
They are making a loud_noise
and they are coming to destroy
the towns and cities of Judah
and to take away the people.
Only foxes will live there.
23‘Lord, I know that people can not
decide what will happen to them,
and we don't have our lives in our own hands.
24Lord, punish us like You should
but please don't be so angry with us
that none of us will stay alive.
25Please be angry with the nations
that don't know You and don't serve You
because they have killed
the descendants of Jacob
and destroyed their land.’
