Against Idolatry and Human Arrogance
5O House of Jacob!
Come, let us walk
By the light of the Lord.
6For you have forsaken [the ways of] your people,
O House of Jacob!
For they are full [of practices] from the East,
And of soothsaying like the Philistines;
They abound in customs of the aliens.
7Their land is full of silver and gold,
There is no limit to their treasures;
Their land is full of horses,
There is no limit to their chariots.
8And their land is full of idols;
They bow down to the work of their hands,
To what their own fingers have wrought.
9But man shall be humbled,
And mortal brought low—
Oh, do not forgive them!
10Go deep into the rock,
Bury yourselves in the ground,
Before the terror of the Lord
And His dread majesty!
11Man’s haughty look shall be brought low,
And the pride of mortals shall be humbled.
None but the Lord shall be
Exalted in that day.
12For the Lord of Hosts has ready a day
Against all that is proud and arrogant,
Against all that is lofty—so that it is brought low:
13Against all the cedars of Lebanon,
Tall and stately,
And all the oaks of Bashan;
14Against all the high mountains
And all the lofty hills;
15Against every soaring tower
And every mighty wall;
And all the gallant barks.
17Then man’s haughtiness shall be humbled
And the pride of man brought low.
None but the Lord shall be
Exalted in that day.
18As for idols, they shall vanish completely.
19And men shall enter caverns in the rock
And hollows in the ground—
Before the terror of the Lord
And His dread majesty,
When He comes forth to overawe the earth.
20On that day, men shall fling away,
To the flying foxes and the bats,
The idols of silver
And the idols of gold
Which they made for worshiping.
21And they shall enter the clefts in the rocks
And the crevices in the cliffs,
Before the terror of the Lord
And His dread majesty,
When He comes forth to overawe the earth.
22Oh, cease to glorify man,
Who has only a breath in his nostrils!
For by what does he merit esteem?
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Notes
Probably a type of large ship.
Credits
Reprinted from Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures by permission of the University of Nebraska Press. Copyright 1985 by the Jewish Publication Society, Philadelphia.
Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 1.
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