The LORD's people must not learn pagan fear or imitate the customs of the nations.
Jeremiah 10:1-5
1 Hear the word which Yahweh speaks to you, house of Israel!
2 Yahweh says, “Don’t learn the way of the nations, and don’t be dismayed at the signs of the sky; for the nations are dismayed at them.
Idols are manufactured, fastened, mute, immobile, harmless, and helpless.
3 For the customs of the peoples are vanity; for one cuts a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman with the ax.
4 They deck it with silver and with gold. They fasten it with nails and with hammers, so that it can’t move.
5 They are like a palm tree, of turned work, and don’t speak. They must be carried, because they can’t move. Don’t be afraid of them; for they can’t do evil, neither is it in them to do good.”
The LORD is incomparable in greatness, power, and royal authority over the nations.
Jeremiah 10:6-10
6 There is no one like you, Yahweh. You are great, and your name is great in might.
7 Who shouldn’t fear you, King of the nations? For it belongs to you. Because among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their royal estate, there is no one like you.
Those who learn from worthless wooden idols become senseless and foolish.
8 But they are together brutish and foolish, instructed by idols! It is just wood.
9 There is silver beaten into plates, which is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the engraver and of the hands of the goldsmith. Their clothing is blue and purple. They are all the work of skillful men.
The true and living God rules as eternal King, and the nations cannot endure his wrath.
10 But Yahweh is the true God. He is the living God, and an everlasting King. At his wrath, the earth trembles. The nations aren’t able to withstand his indignation.
Non-creator gods are destined to disappear from earth and heaven.
Jeremiah 10:11-13
11 “You shall say this to them: ‘The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth will perish from the earth, and from under the heavens.’ ”
The LORD made the earth, established the world, stretched out the heavens, and governs rain, lightning, clouds, and wind.
12 God has made the earth by his power. He has established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding has he stretched out the heavens.
13 When he utters his voice, the waters in the heavens roar, and he causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth. He makes lightnings for the rain, and brings the wind out of his treasuries.
Idols are fraudulent and breathless, but the LORD made all things and chose Israel as his inheritance.
Jeremiah 10:14-16
14 Every man has become brutish and without knowledge. Every goldsmith is disappointed by his engraved image; for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.
15 They are vanity, a work of delusion. In the time of their visitation they will perish.
16 The portion of Jacob is not like these; for he is the maker of all things; and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance: Yahweh of Armies is his name.
The people under siege must gather their belongings because the LORD will hurl them from the land.
Jeremiah 10:17-18
17 Gather up your wares out of the land, you who live under siege.
18 For Yahweh says, “Behold, I will sling out the inhabitants of the land at this time, and will distress them, that they may feel it.”
The prophet feels the wound of judgment as an incurable wound and a collapsed household.
Jeremiah 10:19-22
19 Woe is me because of my injury! My wound is serious; but I said, “Truly this is my grief, and I must bear it.”
20 My tent has been destroyed, and all my cords are broken. My children have gone away from me, and they are no more. There is no one to spread my tent any more, to set up my curtains.
Leaders who do not inquire of the LORD fail, and the people are scattered.
21 For the shepherds have become brutish, and have not inquired of Yahweh. Therefore they have not prospered, and all their flocks have scattered.
The northern threat will make Judah's towns a haunt of jackals.
22 The voice of news, behold, it comes, and a great commotion out of the north country, to make the cities of Judah a desolation, a dwelling place of jackals.
Human beings cannot direct their own steps apart from the LORD.
Jeremiah 10:23-25
23 Yahweh, I know that the way of man is not in himself. It is not in man who walks to direct his steps.
He asks the LORD to correct with justice, not consuming anger.
24 Yahweh, correct me, but gently; not in your anger, lest you reduce me to nothing.
The chapter ends by asking the LORD to judge nations who do not know him and have devoured Jacob.
25 Pour out your wrath on the nations that don’t know you, and on the families that don’t call on your name; for they have devoured Jacob. Yes, they have devoured him, consumed him, and have laid waste his habitation.