## Yahweh Alone Is the Living God 

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Hear the word which Yahweh speaks to you, O house of Israel. 

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Thus says Yahweh, "Do not learn the way of the nations, And do not be terrified by the signs of the heavens Although the nations are terrified by them; 

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For the statutes of the peoples are vanity Because it is wood cut from the forest, The work of the hands of a craftsman with a cutting tool. 

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They make _it_ beautiful with silver and with gold; They strengthen it with nails and with hammers So that it will not totter. 

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Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field are they, And they cannot speak; They must be carried Because they cannot take a step! Do not fear them, For they can do no harm, Nor can they do any good." 

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There is none like You, O Yahweh; You are great, and great is Your name in might. 

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Who would not fear You, O King of the nations? Indeed it is Your due! For among all the wise men of the nations And in all their kingdoms, There is none like You. 

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But they are altogether senseless and foolish; _They are in_ a discipline of vanities--it is _mere_ wood! 

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Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish, And gold from Uphaz, The work of a craftsman and of the hands of a goldsmith; Blue and purple are their clothing; They are all the work of wise _craftsmen_. 

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But Yahweh is the true God; He is the living God and the everlasting King. At His wrath the earth quakes, And the nations cannot endure His indignation. 

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Thus you shall say to them, "The gods that did not make the heavens and the earth will perish from the earth and from under the heavens." 

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_It is_ He who made the earth by His power, Who established the world by His wisdom; And by His understanding He has stretched out the heavens. 

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When He gives forth His voice, _there is_ a tumult of waters in the heavens, And He causes the clouds to ascend from the end of the earth; He makes lightning for the rain, And brings out the wind from His storehouses. 

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Every man is senseless, devoid of knowledge; Every goldsmith is put to shame by his graven images; For his molten images are a lie, And there is no breath in them. 

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They are vanity, a work of mockery; In the time of their punishment they will perish. 

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The portion of Jacob is not like these; For the Maker of all is He, And Israel is the tribe of His inheritance; Yahweh of hosts is His name. 

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Gather up your bundle from the ground, You who inhabit _a land_ under siege! 

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For thus says Yahweh, "Behold, I am slinging out the inhabitants of the land At this time, And will cause them distress, That they may find _it_." 

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Woe is me, because of my injury! My wound is desperately sick. But I said, "Truly this is a sickness, And I must bear it." 

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My tent is destroyed, And all my ropes are torn out; My sons have gone from me and are no more. There is no one to stretch out my tent again Or to set up my curtains. 

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For the shepherds have become senseless And have not sought Yahweh; Therefore they have not prospered, And all their flock is scattered. 

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The sound of a report! Behold, it comes-- A great quaking out of the land of the north-- To make the cities of Judah A desolation, a haunt of jackals. 

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I know, O Yahweh, that a man's way is not in himself, Nor is it in a man who walks to direct his steps. 

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Discipline me, O Yahweh, but with justice; Not with Your anger, lest You bring me to nothing. 

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Pour out Your wrath on the nations that do not know You And on the families that do not call Your name, For they have devoured Jacob; They have devoured him and consumed him And have made desolate his abode.