First light over a great sweep of the Judean hills from a high ridge: hills folding away toward the far sea, clouds rising from the horizon, a band of rain crossing one valley.

The temple gate

Jeremiah 10

The book doesn’t date this oracle. What do you trust that can’t walk or speak?

25 verses≈ 5 minBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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Where we are

1The callJosiah’s thirteenth year (about 627 BC): a prophet to the nations
2–6Return to MeBroken cisterns, faithless Judah, disaster from the north
7–10The temple gateThe temple sermon, a weeping prophet, the living GodChapter 10
11–20Covenant and complaintThe broken covenant, the potter, Jeremiah’s confessions
21–29Shepherds and prophetsKings judged, the Branch, seventy years, the yoke, the letter
30–33The Book of ComfortRestoration, the new covenant, a field bought in a siege
34–39The last days of JudahThe scroll burned, the cistern, Jerusalem falls (586 BC)
40–45After the fallGedaliah at Mizpah, the flight to Egypt, a word for Baruch
46–51The nationsEgypt to Babylon: the LORD is Judge of all the earth
52Jerusalem fallsThe record of 586 BC, and a king released

The Sovereignty of God

God

Dusk over Babylon: the stepped mud-brick ziggurat dark against the sky, a small figure of a star-watcher far off on its top, and above, a thin crescent moon with one bright planet beside it.

Hear the word that the LORD speaks to you, O house of Israel. This is what the LORD says:

“Do not learn the ways of the nations

or be terrified by the signs in the heavens,

though the nations themselves are terrified by them.

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God

God

For the customs of the peoples are worthless;

they cut down a tree from the forest;

it is shaped with a chisel

by the hands of a craftsman.

They adorn it with silver and gold

and fasten it with hammer and nails,

so that it will not totter.

God

Late summer in a field of sprawling cucumber vines below a hill town: a crude scarecrow of a ragged old cloak hung on a pole stands stiff, a crow perched on top, an empty watchman’s booth beyond.

Like scarecrows in a cucumber patch,

their idols cannot speak.

They must be carried

because they cannot walk.

Do not fear them, for they can do no harm,

and neither can they do any good.”

Jeremiah

There is none like You, O LORD.

You are great, and Your name is mighty in power.

Jeremiah 10:6

Jeremiah

Who would not fear You, O King of nations?

This is Your due.

For among all the wise men of the nations,

and in all their kingdoms,

there is none like You.

Jeremiah

Jeremiah

But they are altogether senseless and foolish,

instructed by worthless idols made of wood!

Hammered silver is brought from Tarshish,

and gold from Uphaz—

the work of a craftsman

from the hands of a goldsmith.

Their clothes are blue and purple,

all fashioned by skilled workers.

Jeremiah

God

Thus you are to tell them: “These gods, who have made neither the heavens nor the earth, will perish from this earth and from under these heavens.”

Jeremiah

Jeremiah

The LORD made the earth by His power;

He established the world by His wisdom

and stretched out the heavens by His understanding.

When He thunders,

the waters in the heavens roar;

He causes the clouds to rise

from the ends of the earth.

He generates the lightning with the rain

and brings forth the wind from His storehouses.

Jeremiah

Every man is senseless and devoid of knowledge;

every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols.

For his molten images are a fraud,

and there is no breath in them.

They are worthless, a work to be mocked.

In the time of their punishment they will perish.

Jeremiah

The Portion of Jacob is not like these,

for He is the Maker of all things,

and Israel is the tribe of His inheritance—

the LORD of Hosts is His name.

Question

Quick question

The LORD tells His people not to be afraid of the idols the nations carry. Look back at 10:5.

Why does 10:5 say not to fear idols?

Idols and the living God

Whiteboard

Made by us, or the One who made us.

The Coming Captivity of Judah

Jeremiah

Jeremiah

Gather up your belongings from this land, you who live under siege.

God

For this is what the LORD says:

“Behold, at this time I will sling out

the inhabitants of the land

and bring distress upon them

so that they may be captured.”

Jeremiah

A herders' camp on a hillside after a raid, empty: black goat-hair tents collapsed, their ropes snapped and trailing, torn curtains flapping, a cooking pot overturned.

Woe to me because of my brokenness;

my wound is grievous!

But I said, “This is truly my sickness,

and I must bear it.”

My tent is destroyed,

and all its ropes are snapped.

My sons have departed from me

and are no more.

I have no one left to pitch my tent

or set up my curtains.

Jeremiah

Jeremiah

For the shepherds have become senseless;

they do not seek the LORD.

Therefore they have not prospered,

and all their flock is scattered.

Listen! The sound of a report is coming—

a great commotion from the land to the north.

It will make the cities of Judah a desolation,

a haunt for jackals.

Jeremiah

Dawn on a narrow path through the Judean hills: a lone traveler with a staff, seen from behind and far off, walks where the path bends out of sight between the slopes.

I know, O LORD, that a man’s way is not his own;

no one who walks directs his own steps.

Correct me, O LORD,

but only with justice—

not in Your anger,

or You will bring me to nothing.

0:11

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

Jeremiah

Pour out Your wrath on the nations

that do not acknowledge You,

and on the families

that do not call on Your name.

For they have devoured Jacob;

they have consumed him and finished him off;

they have devastated his homeland.

Pray

LORD, there is none like You, the living God and eternal King. My way is not my own; direct my steps. Correct me, but with justice, not in Your anger, for You are my portion. Amen.

You’ve experienced

Jeremiah 10

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A verse to carry with you

There is none like You, O LORD. You are great, and Your name is mighty in power.

Jeremiah 10:6

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