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| 1 Hear the word that Jehovah speaketh unto you, house of Israel. |
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| 2 Thus saith Jehovah: Learn not the way of the nations, and be not dismayed at the signs of the heavens; for the nations are dismayed at them. |
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| 3 For the statutes of the peoples are vanity; for it is a tree cut out of the forest, worked with a chisel by the hands of the artizan; |
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| 4 they deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not. |
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| 5 They are as a palm-column of turned work, and they speak not; they are carried, for they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good. |
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| 6 There is none like unto thee, Jehovah; thou art great, and thy name is great in might. |
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| 7 Who would not fear thee, O King of nations? For to thee doth it appertain; for among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like unto thee. |
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| 8 But they are one and all senseless and foolish; the teaching of vanities is a stock. |
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| 9 Silver spread into plates is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the artizan and of the hands of the founder; blue and purple is their clothing: they are all the work of skilful men2. |
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| 10 But Jehovah Elohim is truth; he is the living God, and the King of eternity. At his wrath the earth trembleth, and the nations cannot abide his indignation. |
At his wrath – The word of the Lord to the nations assembled before him for judgment. D12
The earth – The present organization of society. C229; D46; A323
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| 11 Thus shall ye say unto them: The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, these shall perish from the earth, and from under the heavens. |
The gods – Mighty ones; a general name, often and properly applied to our Heavenly Father, as well as to Jesus, angels and men. R338:2, R421:3
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| 12 He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by his understanding. |
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| 13 When he uttereth his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he causeth the vapours to ascend from the end of the earth; he maketh lightnings for the rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasuries. |
Uttereth his voice – God makes use of different agencies to do his service. These are sometimes animate, sometimes inanimate. R5385:3
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| 14 Every man is become brutish, bereft of knowledge; every founder is put to shame by the graven image, for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them. |
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| 15 They are vanity, a work of delusion: in the time of their visitation they shall perish. |
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| 16 The portion of Jacob is not like them; for it is he that hath formed all things, and Israel is the rod of his inheritance: Jehovah of hosts is his name. |
Is the rod – A symbol of authority. R4058:4
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| 17 Gather up thy baggage out of the land, O inhabitress of the fortress. |
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| 18 For thus saith Jehovah: Behold, I will this time sling out the inhabitants of the land, and will distress them, that they may be found. |
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| 19 Woe is me, for my wound! My stroke is hard to heal, and I had said, Yea, this is my grief, and I will bear it. |
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| 20 My tent is despoiled, and all my cords are broken; my children are gone forth from me, and they are not; there is none to stretch forth my tent any more, and to set up my curtains. |
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| 21 For the shepherds are become brutish, and have not sought Jehovah; therefore have they not acted wisely, and all their flock is scattered. |
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| 22 The voice of a rumour! Behold, it cometh, and a great commotion out of the north country, to make the cities of Judah a desolation, a dwelling-place of jackals. |
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| 23 I know, Jehovah, that the way of man is not his own; it is not in a man that walketh to direct his steps. |
Not in himself – It is not in the power of man to direct his own steps, but the child of God has learned where to seek counsel. R1753:1
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| 24 Jehovah, correct me, but with judgment; not in thine anger, lest thou bring me to nothing. |
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| 25 Pour out thy fury upon the nations that know thee not, and upon the families that call not on thy name; for they have eaten up Jacob, yea, they have eaten him up and consumed him, and have laid waste his dwelling-place. |
Eaten up Jacob – Natural Israel. A300
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