| 1 | Hear ye the word which the Lord hath spoken concerning you, O house of Israel. |
| 2 | Thus saith the Lord: Learn not according to the ways of the Gentiles: and be not afraid of the signs of heaven, which the heathens fear: |
| 3 | For the laws of the people are vain: for the works of the hand of the workman hath cut a tree out of the forest with an axe. |
| 4 | He hath decked it with silver and gold: he hath put it together with nails and hammers, that it may not fall asunder. |
| 5 | They are framed after the likeness of a palm tree, and shall not speak: they must be carried to be removed, because they cannot go. Therefore, fear them not, for they can neither do evil nor good. |
| 6 | There is none like to thee, O Lord: thou art great and great is thy name in might. |
| 7 | Who shall fear thee, O king of nations? for thine is the glory: among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms there is none like unto thee. |
| 8 | They shall be all proved together to be senseless and foolish: the doctrine of their vanity is wood. |
| 9 | Silver spread into plates is brought from Tharsis, and gold from Ophaz: the work of the artificer, and of the hand of the coppersmith: violet and purple is their clothing: all these things are the work of artificers. |
| 10 | But the Lord is the true God: he is the living God, and the everlasting king, at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his threatening. |
| 11 | Thus then shall you say to them: The gods that have not made heaven and earth, let them perish from the earth, and from among those places that are under heaven. |
| 12 | He that maketh the earth by his power, that prepareth the world by his wisdom, and stretcheth out the heavens by his knowledge. |
| 13 | At his voice he giveth a multitude of waters in the heaven, and lifteth up the clouds from the ends of the earth: he maketh lightnings for rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures. |
| 14 | Every man is become a fool for knowledge, every artist is confounded in his graven idol: for what he hath cast is false, and there is no spirit in them. |
| 15 | They are vain things and a ridiculous work: in the time of their visitation they shall perish. |
| 16 | The portion of Jacob is not like these: for it is he who formed all things: and Israel is the rod of his inheritance: the Lord of hosts is his name. |
| 17 | Gather up thy shame out of the land, thou that dwellest in a siege. |
| 18 | For thus saith the Lord: Behold I will cast away far off the inhabitants of the land at this time: and I will afflict them, so that they may be found. |
| 19 | Woe is me for my destruction, my wound is very grievous. But I said: Truly this is my own evil, and I will bear it. |
| 20 | My tabernacle is laid waste, all my cords are broken: my children are gone out from me, and they are not: there is none to stretch forth my tent any more, and to set up my curtains. |
| 21 | Because the pastors have done foolishly, and have not sought the Lord: therefore have they not understood, and all their flock is scattered. |
| 22 | Behold the sound of a noise cometh, a great commotion out of the land of the north: to make the cities of Juda a desert, and a dwelling for dragons. |
| 23 | I know, O Lord, that the way of a man is not his: neither is it in a man to walk, and to direct his steps. |
| 24 | Correct me, O Lord, but yet with judgement: and not in fury, lest thou bring me to nothing. |
| 25 | Pour out thy indignation upon the nations that have not known thee, and upon the provinces that have not called upon thy name: because they have eaten up Jacob, and devoured him, and consumed him, and have destroyed his glory. |
