The Sovereignty of God

1Hear ye the word of the Lord, which he has spoken to you, O house of Israel.

2Thus 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.

3For 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.

4They are beautified with silver and gold, they fix them with hammers and nails;

5they will set them up that they may not move; it is wrought silver, they will not walk, it is forged silver 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.

11Thus 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.

12It 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,

13and 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.

14Every 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.

15They are vain works, wrought in mockery; in the time of their visitation they shall perish.

16Such is not the portion of Jacob; for he that formed all things, he is his inheritance; the Lord is his name.

The Coming Destruction

17He has gathered thy substance from without the lodged in choice vessels.

18For thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will overthrow the inhabitants of this land with affliction, that thy plague may be discovered.

19Alas for thy ruin! thy plague is grievous: and I said, Surely this is thy wound, and it has overtaken thee.

20Thy 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.

21For the shepherds have become foolish, and have not sought the Lord; therefore the whole pasture has failed, and the sheep have been scattered.

22Behold, there comes a sound of a noise, and a great earthquake from the land of the north, to make the cities of Juda a desolation, and a resting-place for ostriches.

Jeremiah's Prayer

23I know, O Lord, that man's way is not his own; neither shall a man go, and direct his going.

24Chasten us, O Lord, but with judgment; and not in wrath, lest thou make us few.

25Pour 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.