CLV(i)
1 Hear you the word, O house of Israel, That Yahweh has spoken for you."
2 Thus said Yahweh:Unto the way of the nations accustom not yourselves, And by the signs of the heavens be not affrighted, For the nations are affrighted by them."
3 For the statutes of the peoples are vanity, For a tree from a forest has one cut, Work of the hands of an artificer, with an axe,
4 With silver and with gold they beautify it, With nails and with hammers they fix it, And it does not stumble."
5 As a palm they [are] stiff, and they speak not, They are surely borne, for they step not, Be not afraid of them, for they do no evil, Yea, also to do good is not in them."
6 Because there is none like You, O Yahweh, Great [are] You, and great Your name in might."
7 Who does not fear You, king of the nations? For to You it is becoming, For among all the wise of the nations, And in all their kingdom there is none like You."
8 And in one they are brutish and foolish, An instruction of vanities [is] the tree itself."
9 Spread-out silver from Tarshish is brought, And gold from Uphaz, Work of an artisan, and of the hands of a refiner, Blue and purple [is] their clothing, Work of the skilful--all of them."
10 And Yahweh [is] an Elohim of truth, He [is] a living Elohim, and a king eonian, From His wrath shake does the earth, And nations endure not His indignation."
11 Thus do you say to them, The elohims Who the heavens and earth have not made, They do perish from the earth, And from under these heavens."
12 The maker of the earth by His power, The establisher of the world by His wisdom, Who, by His understanding, stretched forth the heavens,
13 At the voice He gives forth, A multitude of waters [is] in the heavens, And He causes vapours to come up from the end of the earth, Lightnings for rain He has made, And brings out wind from His treasures."
14 Brutish is every man by knowledge, Put to shame is every refiner by a graven image, For false [is] his molten image. And there is no breath in them."
15 Vanity [are] they, work of erring ones, In the time of their inspection they perish."
16 Not like these [is] the Portion of Jacob, For framer of all things [is] He, And Israel [is] the rod of His inheritance, Yahweh of Hosts [is] His name."
17 Gather from the land your merchandise, O dweller in the bulwark,
18 For thus said Yahweh:Lo, I am slinging out the inhabitants of the land at this time, And have been an adversary to them, So that they are found out."
19 Woe to me for my breaking, Grievous has been my smiting, And I said, Only, this [is] my sickness, and I bear it."
20 My tent has been spoiled, And all my cords have been broken, My sons have gone out from me, and they are not, There is none stretching out any more my tent, And raising up my curtains."
21 For the shepherds have become brutish, And Yahweh they have not sought, Therefore they have not acted wisely, And all their flock is scattered."
22 A voice of a report, lo, it has come, Even a great shaking from the north country, To make the cities of Judah a desolation, A habitation of dragons."
23 I have known, O Yahweh, that not of man [is] his way, Not of man the going and establishing of his step."
24 Chastise me, O Yahweh, only in judgment, Not in Your anger, lest You make me small."
25 Pour out Your fury on the nations that have not known You, And on the families that have not called in Your name, For they have eaten up Jacob, Yea, they have eaten him up, yea, they consume him, And his habitation they have made desolate!"