OLD TESTAMENT							NEW TESTAMENT
The 7 Books	Old Testament History		Wisdom Books	Major Prophets	Minor Prophets		NT History	Epistles of St. Paul		General Writings
Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuter. Joshua Judges	Ruth 1 Samuel 2 Samuel 1 Kings 2 Kings 1 Chron. 2 Chron.	Ezra Nehem. Tobit Judith Esther 1 Macc. 2 Macc.	Job Psalms Proverbs Eccles. Songs Wisdom Sirach	Isaiah Jeremiah Lament. Baruch Ezekiel Daniel	Hosea Joel Amos Obadiah Jonah Micah	Nahum Habakkuk Zephaniah Haggai Zechariah Malachi	Matthew Mark Luke John Acts	Romans 1 Corinth. 2 Corinth. Galatians Ephesians Philippians Colossians	1 Thess. 2 Thess. 1 Timothy 2 Timothy Titus Philemon Hebrews	James 1 Peter 2 Peter 1 John 2 John 3 John Jude Revelation

Jeremiah 10

« 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 »

1 ἀκούσατε τὸν λόγον κυρίου ὃν ἐλάλησεν ἐ{F'} ὑμᾶς οἶκος Ισραηλ 2 τάδε λέγει κύριος κατὰ τὰς ὁδοὺς τῶν ἐθνῶν μὴ μανθάνετε καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν σημείων τοῦ οὐρανοῦ μὴ φοβεῖσθε ὅτι φοβοῦνται αὐτὰ τοῖς προσώποις αὐτῶν 3 ὅτι τὰ νόμιμα τῶν ἐθνῶν μάταια ξύλον ἐστὶν ἐκ τοῦ δρυμοῦ ἐκκεκομμένον ἔργον τέκτονος καὶ χώνευμα 4 ἀργυρίῳ καὶ χρυσίῳ κεκαλλωπισμένα ἐστίν ἐν σφύραις καὶ ἥλοις ἐστερέωσαν αὐτά καὶ οὐ κινηθήσονται 5 αἰρόμενα ἀρθήσονται ὅτι οὐκ ἐπιβήσονται μὴ φοβηθῆτε αὐτά ὅτι οὐ μὴ κακοποιήσωσιν καὶ ἀγαθὸν οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν αὐτοῖς

1 Listen, men of Israel, to the Lord’s utterance concerning you.[1] 2 Thus says the Lord: Do not learn to follow Gentile ways, or be dismayed by portents in the heavens, as the Gentiles are. 3 How empty the observances the heathen use! What is the stuff upon which the carver works but a trunk of wood, felled by an axe out in the forest? 4 Only he has tricked it out with gold and silver, hammer and nail must do their work, lest it should fall to pieces. 5 Idols cunningly plated as palm-trees,[2] yet dumb as they, and men must carry them to and fro, for movement they have none! To these give no reverence; they can neither mar nor make thee.

1

Audite verbum quod locutus est Dominus super vos, domus Israël. 2
Hæc dicit Dominus:
Juxta vias gentium nolite discere,
et a signis cæli nolite metuere, quæ timent gentes, 3
quia leges populorum vanæ sunt.
Quia lignum de saltu præcidit opus manus artificis in ascia: 4
argento et auro decoravit illud:
clavis et malleis compegit, ut non dissolvatur: 5
in similitudinem palmæ fabricata sunt,
et non loquentur:
portata tollentur,
quia incedere non valent.
Nolite ergo timere ea,
quia nec male possunt facere, nec bene.

6 7 8 9 ἀργύριον τορευτόν ἐστιν οὐ πορεύσονται ἀργύριον προσβλητὸν ἀπὸ Θαρσις ἥξει χρυσίον Μωφαζ καὶ χεὶρ χρυσοχόων ἔργα τεχνιτῶν πάντα ὑάκινθον καὶ πορφύραν ἐνδύσουσιν αὐτά 10

6 No, Lord, thou hast no rival; so great thou art, so great is the sovereignty of thy name. 7 King of all nations, how should we not fear thee in that majesty of thine? Boast the world as it will of wisdom or of empire, none can rival thee. 8 Ah, folly and blindness, ah, fond teaching, lifeless as wood itself! 9 Ay, bring plates of silver from Tharsis, gold from Ophaz, it is all man’s work, fresh from the smithy; bring robes of blue and purple, they are man’s work still! 10 But the Lord is God in good earnest, a God that lives, that has eternal dominion, and can make earth tremble with his frown, strike the nations powerless when he threatens them.

6
Non est similis tui, Domine:
magnus es tu,
et magnum nomen tuum in fortitudine. 7
Quis non timebit te, o Rex gentium?
tuum est enim decus:
inter cunctos sapientes gentium,
et in universis regnis eorum,
nullus est similis tui. 8
Pariter insipientes et fatui probabuntur:
doctrina vanitatis eorum lignum est. 9
Argentum involutum de Tharsis affertur,
et aurum de Ophaz:
opus artificis et manus ærarii.
Hyacinthus et purpura indumentum eorum:
opus artificum universa hæc. 10
Dominus autem Deus verus est,
ipse Deus vivens,
et rex sempiternus.
Ab indignatione ejus commovebitur terra,
et non sustinebunt gentes comminationem ejus.

11 οὕτως ἐρεῖτε αὐτοῖς θεοί οἳ τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν οὐκ ἐποίησαν ἀπολέσθωσαν ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς καὶ ὑποκάτωθεν τοῦ οὐρανοῦ τούτου

11 No place on earth or under heaven, you must tell the nations, for gods that could fashion neither heaven nor earth.[3]

11
Sic ergo dicetis eis:
Dii qui cælos et terram non fecerunt,
pereant de terra et de his quæ sub cælo sunt!

12 κύριος ὁ ποιήσας τὴν γῆν ἐν τῇ ἰσχύι αὐτοῦ ὁ ἀνορθώσας τὴν οἰκουμένην ἐν τῇ σοφίᾳ αὐτοῦ καὶ τῇ φρονήσει αὐτοῦ ἐξέτεινεν τὸν οὐρανὸν 13 καὶ πλῆθος ὕδατος ἐν οὐρανῷ καὶ ἀνήγαγεν νεφέλας ἐξ ἐσχάτου τῆς γῆς ἀστραπὰς εἰς ὑετὸν ἐποίησεν καὶ ἐξήγαγεν φῶς ἐκ θησαυρῶν αὐτοῦ 14 ἐμωράνθη πᾶς ἄνθρωπος ἀπὸ γνώσεως κατῃσχύνθη πᾶς χρυσοχόος ἐπὶ τοῖς γλυπτοῖς αὐτοῦ ὅτι ψευδῆ ἐχώνευσαν οὐκ ἔστιν πνεῦμα ἐν αὐτοῖς 15 μάταιά ἐστιν ἔργα ἐμπεπαιγμένα ἐν καιρῷ ἐπισκοπῆς αὐτῶν ἀπολοῦνται 16 οὐκ ἔστιν τοιαύτη μερὶς τῷ Ιακωβ ὅτι ὁ πλάσας τὰ πάντα αὐτὸς κληρονομία αὐτοῦ κύριος ὄνομα αὐτῷ

12 Power that made the earth, wisdom that orders nature, foresight that spread out the heavens! 13 At the sound of his voice, what mustering of the waters overhead! He summons up the cloud-wrack from the world’s end, turns the lightning into a rain-storm, brings the winds out of his store-house;[4] 14 how puny, then, is man’s skill, how sorry a thing is the carver’s workmanship; after all his pains, only a lifeless counterfeit! 15 Fond imaginations, fantastic figures, when the time comes for reckoning, they will be heard of no more. 16 Not such the worship that is the heirloom of Jacob’s line; their God is the God who made all things, Israel his patrimony, the Lord of hosts his name.

12
Qui facit terram in fortitudine sua,
præparat orbem in sapientia sua,
et prudentia sua extendit cælos: 13
ad vocem suam dat multitudinem aquarum in cælo,
et elevat nebulas ab extremitatibus terræ:
fulgura in pluviam facit,
et educit ventum de thesauris suis. 14
Stultus factus est omnis homo a scientia:
confusus est artifex omnis in sculptili,
quoniam falsum est quod conflavit,
et non est spiritus in eis. 15
Vana sunt, et opus risu dignum:
in tempore visitationis suæ peribunt. 16
Non est his similis pars Jacob:
qui enim formavit omnia, ipse est,
et Israël virga hæreditatis ejus:
Dominus exercituum nomen illi.

17 συνήγαγεν ἔξωθεν τὴν ὑπόστασίν σου κατοικοῦσα ἐν ἐκλεκτοῖς 18 ὅτι τάδε λέγει κύριος ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ σκελίζω τοὺς κατοικοῦντας τὴν γῆν ταύτην ἐν θλίψει ὅπως εὑρεθῇ ἡ πληγή σου

17 Take up from the ground, poor besieged one, thy load of shame.[5] 18 This time, the Lord says, I mean to hurl them far away, the dwellers in this land, and great distress shall be theirs, that they may be found …[6]

17
Congrega de terra confusionem tuam,
quæ habitas in obsidione: 18
quia hæc dicit Dominus:
Ecce ego longe projiciam habitatores terræ in hac vice,
et tribulabo eos ita ut inveniantur.

19 οὐαὶ ἐπὶ συντρίμματί σου ἀλγηρὰ ἡ πληγή σου κἀγὼ εἶπα ὄντως τοῦτο τὸ τραῦμά μου καὶ κατέλαβέν με 20 ἡ σκηνή μου ἐταλαιπώρησεν ὤλετο καὶ πᾶσαι αἱ δέρρεις μου διεσπάσθησαν οἱ υἱοί μου καὶ τὰ πρόβατά μου οὔκ εἰσιν οὐκ ἔστιν ἔτι τόπος τῆς σκηνῆς μου τόπος τῶν δέρρεών μου 21 ὅτι οἱ ποιμένες ἠφρονεύσαντο καὶ τὸν κύριον οὐκ ἐξεζήτησαν διὰ τοῦτο οὐκ ἐνόησεν πᾶσα ἡ νομὴ καὶ διεσκορπίσθησαν 22 φωνὴ ἀκοῆς ἰδοὺ ἔρχεται καὶ σεισμὸς μέγας ἐκ γῆς βορρᾶ τοῦ τάξαι τὰς πόλεις Ιουδα εἰς ἀφανισμὸν καὶ κοίτην στρουθῶν

19 Alas, for my wounding, for the grievous hurt that is mine! Hitherto I had thought to bear my sickness, if this were all; 20 but now what am I? A tent broken down, all its ropes severed: all my citizens have deserted me, and are no more to be found; who shall raise the pole, who shall stretch the curtains now? 21 And the cause of it? Unskilful shepherds that would have no recourse to the Lord; see how their art has failed them, and all the flock is scattered far and wide! 22 A sound comes to me that brings tidings with it, a great stir from the north country; all Juda is to become a desert, a lair for serpents[7] now.

19
Væ mihi super contritione mea:
pessima plaga mea.
Ego autem dixi:
Plane hæc infirmitas mea est, et portabo illam. 20
Tabernaculum meum vastatum est;
omnes funiculi mei dirupti sunt:
filii mei exierunt a me, et non subsistunt.
Non est qui extendat ultra tentorium meum,
et erigat pelles meas. 21
Quia stulte egerunt pastores,
et Dominum non quæsierunt:
propterea non intellexerunt,
et omnis grex eorum dispersus est. 22
Vox auditionis ecce venit,
et commotio magna de terra aquilonis:
ut ponat civitates Juda solitudinem,
et habitaculum draconum.

23 οἶδα κύριε ὅτι οὐχὶ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἡ ὁδὸς αὐτοῦ οὐδὲ ἀνὴρ πορεύσεται καὶ κατορθώσει πορείαν αὐτοῦ 24 παίδευσον ἡμᾶς κύριε πλὴν ἐν κρίσει καὶ μὴ ἐν θυμῷ ἵνα μὴ ὀλίγους ἡμᾶς ποιήσῃς 25 ἔκχεον τὸν θυμόν σου ἐπὶ ἔθνη τὰ μὴ εἰδότα σε καὶ ἐπὶ γενεὰς αἳ τὸ ὄνομά σου οὐκ ἐπεκαλέσαντο ὅτι κατέφαγον τὸν Ιακωβ καὶ ἐξανήλωσαν αὐτὸν καὶ τὴν νομὴν αὐτοῦ ἠρήμωσαν

23 Lord, I know it well enough, it is not for man to choose his lot; not human wisdom guides our steps aright. 24 Chasten me, Lord, but with due measure kept; not as thy anger demands, or thou wilt grind me to dust. 25 Pour out this indignation of thine upon the nations that do not acknowledge thee, on the tribes that never invoke thy name; by whom Jacob is devoured, devoured and devastated, and all his pride scattered to the winds.[8]

23
Scio, Domine,
quia non est hominis via ejus,
nec viri est ut ambulet,
et dirigat gressus suos. 24
Corripe me, Domine, verumtamen in judicio,
et non in furore tuo, ne forte ad nihilum redigas me. 25
Effunde indignationem tuam super gentes quæ non cognoverunt te,
et super provincias quæ nomen tuum non invocaverunt:
quia comederunt Jacob, et devoraverunt eum,
et consumpserunt illum, et decus ejus dissipaverunt.

[1] vv. 1-25. It may be doubted whether this chapter is more than a collection of certain isolated utterances made by the prophet. Verses 2-16, for instance, read as if they were addressed to men already in exile, not to men threatened with exile as a punishment for their own idolatries.

[2] ‘Cunningly-plated as palm-trees’; literally, ‘fashioned into the similitude of a palm-tree’; the plates of metal in which the wooden core of the idol was sheathed may have suggested the figure of a palm-trunk. But some understand the Hebrew text as meaning ‘like a scare-crow in a garden of melons’; cf. Bar. 6.69.

[3] This verse is phrased, not in pure Hebrew, but in the Aramaic dialect, as if it were written under the influence of the Captivity.

[4] For the later part of this verse cf. Ps. 134.7.

[5] In the Hebrew text simply ‘thy load’.

[6] It seems clear that there must be some omission at the end of this verse, whether we read ‘that they may be found’, or (as in the Hebrew text), ‘that they may find’.

[7] Or perhaps ‘jackals’ as in 9.11 above.

[8] Cf. Ps. 78.6, 7.

Knox Translation Copyright © 2013 Westminster Diocese
Nihil Obstat. Father Anton Cowan, Censor.
Imprimatur. +Most Rev. Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster. 8th January 2012.
Re-typeset and published in 2012 by Baronius Press Ltd