1. Hear you the word which the LORD speaks unto you, O house of Israel:
2. Thus says the LORD,
3. For the customs of the people are vain: for one cuts a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe.
4. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it moves not.
5. They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must 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. Since as there is none like unto you, O LORD; you are great, and your name is great in might.
7. Who would not fear you, O King of nations? for to you is it due: since among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like unto you.
8. But they are altogether senseless and foolish: the wooden idol is a doctrine of vanities.
9. Silver beaten into plates is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the craftsman, and of the hands of the goldsmith: blue and purple is their clothing: they are all the work of skillful men.