Letter of Jeremiah

Letter of Jeremiah

⁰አርአያ፡ መጽሐፍ፡ ዘኤርምያስ፡ ዘፈነወ፡ ኀበ፡ እለ፡ ፄወዎሙ፡ ባቢሎን፡ ንጉሠ፡ ባቢሎን፡ ይንግርዎሙ፡ ዘአዘዘ፡ እግዚአብሔር። ¹Because of the sins you committed against the LORD, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has carried you captive to Babylon. You will live there many days, until the seventh generation. ²After that I will bring you out in peace. ³So be on your guard, and do not become like them. ⁴You will see the nations in front of them and behind them, bowing down to them. ⁵If they have a tongue, a craftsman made it, and they themselves are made of gold and silver. They are a lie and cannot speak. ⁶As people do for a young girl who loves jewelry, so they take gold ⁷and make them crowns of gold and silver. ⁸They dress them up like human beings. ⁹Yet they cannot keep the tarnish off their own heads. ¹⁰They cover them in purple and wipe the dust of the temple off them. ¹¹They hold a staff like a man, yet they cannot punish anyone who strikes them. ¹²One holds an axe in his hand, yet he cannot save himself from thieves. ¹³Like a pot that is smashed and useless, so are their gods. ¹⁴They set them up in the temple, and their eyes fill with the dust kicked up by the feet of the people who come in. ¹⁵Their priests guard them with doors and bars so that no one will steal them. ¹⁶They light lamps for them, yet they cannot see a single one. ¹⁷While things eat away at them and their clothes, they do not even notice. ¹⁸Their faces are blackened by the smoke the priests make in the temple. ¹⁹Bats, birds and cats sit on their heads. ²⁰By this you will know that they are not gods. So do not fear them. ²¹As for the gold, if they set it on them and do not polish it, it will not shine. Even when they were being cast, they felt nothing. ²²There is no breath in them. ²³People carry them on their shoulders, which shows how worthless they are. ²⁴If they fall to the ground, they cannot get up on their own. If someone sets them upright, they cannot stand on their own. People bring them food and sacrifices as if to the dead. ²⁵Even their own priests treat them with contempt. ²⁶By this, know that they are not gods, and do not fear them. ²⁷They shout and wail before their gods as people do at a meal for the dead. ²⁸If anyone does them harm or does them good, they cannot repay it. They cannot set up a king or remove one. ²⁹They cannot make anyone rich or poor. ³⁰They cannot rescue anyone from death or save the weak from the hand of the one who oppresses him. ³¹When war and destruction come, their priests look for a place to hide with them. ³²How then can they be gods, when they cannot save themselves from slaughter and ruin? ³³All nations and kings will know that they are not gods, that they are the work of human hands, and that there is nothing of God's work in them. ³⁴If a temple of the gods catches fire, their priests run away and save their own lives. ³⁵How then can they be gods? ³⁶They cannot save themselves from thieves or from robbers. ³⁷Worthless gods! ³⁸Animals are better than they are, ³⁹because animals can run away. ⁴⁰Like a corpse lying in the dark, ⁴¹so are their gods. ⁴²Better is a righteous man who has no idol, for he stays far from disgrace.