Jeremiah 10:9 - Prayer Tents



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Jeremiah 10
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The Stick Gods

10Listen to the Message that GOD is sending your way, House of Israel.H8085H1697H3068H1696H1004H3478 2Listen most carefully: "Don't take the godless nations as your models. Don't be impressed by their glamour and glitz, no matter how much they're impressed.H559H3068H3925H1870H1471H2865H226H8064H1471H2865H1992 3The religion of these peoples is nothing but smoke. An idol is nothing but a tree chopped down, then shaped by a woodsman's ax.H2708H5971H1892H3772H6086H3293H4639H3027H2796H4621 4They trim it with tinsel and balls, use hammer and nails to keep it upright.H3302H3701H2091H2388H4548H4717H6328 5It's like a scarecrow in a cabbage patch—can't talk! Dead wood that has to be carried—can't walk! Don't be impressed by such stuff. It's useless for either good or evil."H4749H8560H1696H5375H5375H6805H3372H7489H3190 6All this is nothing compared to you, O GOD. You're wondrously great, famously great.H3068H1419H8034H1419H1369 7Who can fail to be impressed by you, King of the nations? It's your very nature to be worshiped! Look far and wide among the elite of the nations. The best they can come up with is nothing compared to you.H3372H4428H1471H2969H2450H1471H4438 8Stupidly, they line them up—a lineup of sticks, good for nothing but making smoke.H259H1197H3688H6086H4148H1892 9Gilded with silver foil from Tarshish, covered with gold from Uphaz, Hung with violet and purple fabrics— no matter how fancy the sticks, they're still sticks.H3701H7554H935H8659H2091H210H4639H2796H3027H6884H8504H713H3830H4639H2450 10But GOD is the real thing— the living God, the eternal King. When he's angry, Earth shakes. Yes, and the godless nations quake.H3068H571H430H2416H430H5769H4428H7110H776H7493H1471H3557H2195 11"Tell them this: 'The stick gods who made nothing, neither sky nor earth, Will come to nothing on the earth and under the sky.'"H1836H560H426H3809H5648H8065H778H7H772H8460H429H8065 12But it is God whose power made the earth, whose wisdom gave shape to the world, who crafted the cosmos.H6213H776H3581H3559H8398H2451H5186H8064H8394 13He thunders, and rain pours down. He sends the clouds soaring. He embellishes the storm with lightnings, launches wind from his warehouse.H5414H6963H1995H4325H8064H5387H5927H7097H776H6213H1300H4306H3318H7307H214 14Stick-god worshipers looking mighty foolish, god-makers embarrassed by their handmade gods! Their gods are frauds—dead sticks,H120H1197H1847H6884H3001H6459H5262H8267H7307 15deadwood gods, tasteless jokes. When the fires of judgment come, they'll be ashes.H1892H4639H8595H6256H6486H6 16But the Portion-of-Jacob is the real thing. He put the whole universe together And pays special attention to Israel. His name? GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies!H2506H3290H3335H3478H7626H5159H3068H6635H8034 17Grab your bags, all you who are under attack.H622H3666H776H3427H4692 18GOD has given notice: "Attention! I'm evicting Everyone who lives here, And right now—yes, right now! I'm going to press them to the limit, squeeze the life right out of them."H559H3068H7049H3427H776H6471H6887H4672 19But it's a black day for me! Hopelessly wounded, I said, "Why, oh why did I think I could bear it?"H188H7667H4347H2470H559H389H2483H5375 20My house is ruined— the roof caved in. Our children are gone— we'll never see them again. No one left to help in rebuilding, no one to make a new start!H168H7703H4340H5423H1121H3318H5186H168H6965H3407 21It's because our leaders are stupid. They never asked GOD for counsel, And so nothing worked right. The people are scattered all over.H7462H1197H1875H3068H7919H4830H6327 22But listen! Something's coming! A big commotion from the northern borders! Judah's towns about to be smashed, left to all the stray dogs and cats!H6963H8052H935H1419H7494H6828H776H7760H5892H3063H8077H4583H8577 23I know, GOD, that mere mortals can't run their own lives, That men and women don't have what it takes to take charge of life.H3068H3045H1870H120H376H1980H3559H6806 24So correct us, GOD, as you see best. Don't lose your temper. That would be the end of us.H3068H3256H4941H639H4591 25Vent your anger on the godless nations, who refuse to acknowledge you, And on the people who won't pray to you— The very ones who've made hash out of Jacob, yes, made hash And devoured him whole, people and pastures alike.H8210H2534H1471H3045H4940H7121H8034H398H3290H398H3615H5116H8074


The Message (MSG). All Scripture quotations are taken from THE MESSAGE, copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers, a Division of Tyndale House Ministries. More details.
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