1. Hear ye the word which the LORD speaketh to you, O house of Israel:
2. Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.
3. For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth 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, that it may not move.
5. They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good.
6. Forasmuch as there is none like to thee, O LORD; thou art great, and thy name is great in might.
7. Who would not fear thee, O King of nations? for to thee doth it appertain: forasmuch as among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like to thee.
8. But they are altogether brutish and foolish: the stock is a doctrine of vanities.