A Satire on Idolatry

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

2Thus says the LORD,
         “Do not learn the way of the nations,
         And do not be terrified by the signs of the heavens
         Although the nations are terrified by them;

3For the customs of the peoples are delusion;
         Because it is wood cut from the forest,
         The work of the hands of a craftsman with a cutting tool.

4“They decorate it with silver and with gold;
         They fasten it with nails and with hammers
         So that it will not totter.

5“Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field are they,
         And they cannot speak;
         They must be carried,
         Because they cannot walk!
         Do not fear them,
         For they can do no harm,
         Nor can they do any good.”

6There is none like You, O LORD;
         You are great, and great is Your name in might.

7Who would not fear You, O King of the nations?
         Indeed it is Your due!
         For among all the wise men of the nations
         And in all their kingdoms,
         There is none like You.

8But they are altogether stupid and foolish
         In their discipline of delusion—their idol is wood!

9Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish,
         And gold from Uphaz,
         The work of a craftsman and of the hands of a goldsmith;
         Violet and purple are their clothing;
         They are all the work of skilled men.

10But the LORD is the true God;
         He is the living God and the everlasting King.
         At His wrath the earth quakes,
         And the nations cannot endure His indignation.

      11Thus you shall say to them, “The gods that did not make the heavens and the earth will perish from the earth and from under the heavens.”

12It is He who made the earth by His power,
         Who established the world by His wisdom;
         And by His understanding He has stretched out the heavens.

13When He utters His voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens,
         And He causes the clouds to ascend from the end of the earth;
         He makes lightning for the rain,
         And brings out the wind from His storehouses.

14Every man is stupid, devoid of knowledge;
         Every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols;
         For his molten images are deceitful,
         And there is no breath in them.

15They are worthless, a work of mockery;
         In the time of their punishment they will perish.

16The portion of Jacob is not like these;
         For the Maker of all is He,
         And Israel is the tribe of His inheritance;
         The LORD of hosts is His name.

17Pick up your bundle from the ground,
         You who dwell under siege!

18For thus says the LORD,
         “Behold, I am slinging out the inhabitants of the land
         At this time,
         And will cause them distress,
         That they may be found.”

19Woe is me, because of my injury!
         My wound is incurable.
         But I said, “Truly this is a sickness,
         And I must bear it.”

20My tent is destroyed,
         And all my ropes are broken;
         My sons have gone from me and are no more.
         There is no one to stretch out my tent again
         Or to set up my curtains.

21For the shepherds have become stupid
         And have not sought the LORD;
         Therefore they have not prospered,
         And all their flock is scattered.

22The sound of a report! Behold, it comes—
         A great commotion out of the land of the north—
         To make the cities of Judah
         A desolation, a haunt of jackals.

23I know, O LORD, that a man’s way is not in himself,
         Nor is it in a man who walks to direct his steps.

24Correct me, O LORD, but with justice;
         Not with Your anger, or You will bring me to nothing.

25Pour out Your wrath on the nations that do not know You
         And on the families that do not call Your name;
         For they have devoured Jacob;
         They have devoured him and consumed him
         And have laid waste his habitation.

NASB ©1995

American Standard Version
Hear ye the word which Jehovah speaketh unto you, O house of Israel:

Douay-Rheims Bible
Hear ye the word which the Lord hath spoken concerning you, O house of Israel.

Darby Bible Translation
Hear the word that Jehovah speaketh unto you, house of Israel.

English Revised Version
Hear ye the word which the LORD speaketh unto you, O house of Israel:

Webster's Bible Translation
Hear ye the word which the LORD speaketh to you, O house of Israel:

World English Bible
Hear the word which Yahweh speaks to you, house of Israel!

Young's Literal Translation
Hear ye the word, O house of Israel, That Jehovah hath spoken for you.May 16. "It is not in Man that Walketh to Direct his Steps" (Jer. x. 23).
"It is not in man that walketh to direct his steps" (Jer. x. 23). United to Jesus Christ as your Redeemer, you are accepted in the Beloved. He does not merely take my place as a man and settle my debts. He does that and more. He comes to give a perfect ideal of what a man should be. He is the model man, not for us to copy, for that would only bring discouragement and utter failure; but He will come and copy Himself in us. If Christ lives in me, I am another Christ. I am not like Him, but I have the …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

Possessing and Possessed
'The portion of Jacob is not like them--for He is the former of all things: and Israel is the tribe of His inheritance. The Lord of Hosts is His name.'--JER. x. 16, R.V. Here we have set forth a reciprocal possession. We possess God, He possesses us. We are His inheritance, He is our portion. I am His; He is mine. This mutual ownership is the very living centre of all religion. Without it there is no relation of any depth between God and us. How much profounder such a conception is than the shallow …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

An Instructive Truth
"O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps."--Jeremiah 10:23. This declaration follows after Jeremiah's lamentation over the Lord's ancient people, who were about to be carried captive into Babylon. The prophet speaks of a fact that was well known to him. It is always well, brethren, to know the truth, and to know it so certainly that you are able to remember it just when you most need it. There are some people, who are very much like …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 50: 1904

Dwight -- the Sovereignty of God
Timothy Dwight was born at Northampton, Massachusetts, in 1752. He graduated from Yale in 1769, served as chaplain in the army during the Revolutionary War and was chosen president of his university in 1795. He died, after holding that office for twelve years, in 1817. Lyman Beecher, who attributed his conversion to him, says: "He was of noble form, with a noble head and body, and had one of the sweetest smiles that ever you saw. When I heard him preach on 'the harvest is passed, the summer is ended, …
Grenville Kleiser—The world's great sermons, Volume 3

Of the Exercises of a Religious Man
The life of a Christian ought to be adorned with all virtues, that he may be inwardly what he outwardly appeareth unto men. And verily it should be yet better within than without, for God is a discerner of our heart, Whom we must reverence with all our hearts wheresoever we are, and walk pure in His presence as do the angels. We ought daily to renew our vows, and to kindle our hearts to zeal, as if each day were the first day of our conversion, and to say, "Help me, O God, in my good resolutions, …
Thomas A Kempis—Imitation of Christ

Of Hiding Our Grace under the Guard of Humility
"My Son, it is better and safer for thee to hide the grace of devotion, and not to lift thyself up on high, nor to speak much thereof, nor to value it greatly; but rather to despise thyself, and to fear as though this grace were given to one unworthy thereof. Nor must thou depend too much upon this feeling, for it can very quickly be turned into its opposite. Think when thou art in a state of grace how miserable and poor thou art wont to be without grace. Nor is there advance in spiritual life …
Thomas A Kempis—Imitation of Christ

A Wise Desire
I remember once going to a chapel where this happened to be the text, and the good man who occupied the pulpit was more than a little of an Arminian. Therefore, when he commenced, he said, "This passage refers entirely to our temporal inheritance. It has nothing whatever to do with our everlasting destiny: for," said he, "We do not want Christ to choose for us in the matter of heaven or hell. It is so plain and easy that every man who has a grain of common sense will choose heaven; and any person …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 1: 1855

"And Hereby we do Know that we Know Him, if we Keep his Commandments. "
1 John ii. 3.--"And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments." This age pretends to much knowledge beyond former ages, knowledge, I say, not only in other natural arts and sciences, but especially in religion. Whether there be any great advancement in other knowledge, and improvement of that which was, to a further extent and clearness, I cannot judge, but I believe there is not much of it in this nation, nor do we so much pretend to it. But, we talk of the enlargements of …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

"Hear the Word of the Lord, Ye Rulers of Sodom, Give Ear unto the Law of Our God, Ye People of Gomorrah,"
Isaiah i. 10, 11, &c.--"Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom, give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah," &c. It is strange to think what mercy is mixed with the most wrath like strokes and threatenings. There is no prophet whose office and commission is only for judgment, nay, to speak the truth, it is mercy that premises threatenings. The entering of the law, both in the commands and curses, is to make sin abound, that grace may superabound, so that both rods and threatenings …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

The Rending of the Kingdom
"Solomon slept with his fathers, and was buried in the City of David his father: and Rehoboam his son reigned in his stead." 1 Kings 11:43. Soon after his accession to the throne, Rehoboam went to Shechem, where he expected to receive formal recognition from all the tribes. "To Shechem were all Israel come to make him king." 2 Chronicles 10:1. Among those present was Jeroboam the son of Nebat --the same Jeroboam who during Solomon's reign had been known as "a mighty man of valor," and to whom the …
Ellen Gould White—The Story of Prophets and Kings

How Christ is the Way in General, "I am the Way. "
We come now to speak more particularly to the words; and, first, Of his being a way. Our design being to point at the way of use-making of Christ in all our necessities, straits, and difficulties which are in our way to heaven; and particularly to point out the way how believers should make use of Christ in all their particular exigencies; and so live by faith in him, walk in him, grow up in him, advance and march forward toward glory in him. It will not be amiss to speak of this fulness of Christ …
John Brown (of Wamphray)—Christ The Way, The Truth, and The Life

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