Jeremiah 10:17-25

God will soon punish the people of Judah

17 Your enemies are all around

and they are ready to attack you.

So get all your things together.

Prepare to leave your country.

18 This is what the Lord says:

‘I will now throw out the people who live in this land.

I will bring much trouble to them,

and they will be in pain.’

19 ‘A terrible thing has happened to us!

10:19These are probably the words of Jeremiah. Or they may be the words of Jerusalem's people.

We have received a very bad wound.

We thought, “We are very ill,

but one day we will get better.”

20 But now they have destroyed our tent.

They have broken the ropes that held it.

10:20The tent is probably a picture of the nation of Judah.

Our children have gone,

and none of them remain.

There is nobody still alive

who can help us build our homes again.

21 Our leaders are fools.

They do not ask the Lord for his advice.

So they have failed to take care of us,

and all their people have disappeared.

10:21Judah's leaders are called shepherds. The people that they should take care of are like their sheep.

22 Listen! We have heard the news!

There is the noise of a great army in the north.

It is marching towards us!

It is coming to attack the towns of Judah.

It will make them heaps of stones.

Only wild animals will live in them.

23 Lord, I know that nobody controls their own life.

Nobody can decide what will happen to them.

24 Lord, teach us what is right,

but do it carefully.

Please do not punish us in your anger.

That would be the end of us.

25 Instead, be angry with the nations that do not respect you.

Be angry with the people who do not worship you.

Those are the people who have destroyed Jacob's descendants.

10:25Jacob's descendants were the Israelites.

They have killed our people.

They have destroyed our land and our homes.’