{"collection":"chr","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/chr/apo/epjer.htm","path":"chr/apo/epjer.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/chr/apo/epjer.htm","text":"EpJer 6\nA copy of an epistle, which Jeremy sent unto them which were\nto be led captives into Babylon by the king of the Babylonians,\nto certify them, as it was commanded him of God.\n2\nBecause of the sins which ye have committed before God, ye\nshall be led away captives into Babylon by Nabuchodonosor king\nof the Babylonians.\n3\nSo when ye be come unto Babylon, ye shall remain there many\nyears, and for a long season, namely, seven generations: and\nafter that I will bring you away peaceably from thence.\n4\nNow shall ye see in Babylon gods of silver, and of gold, and\nof wood, borne upon shoulders, which cause the nations to fear.\n5\nBeware therefore that ye in no wise be like to strangers,\nneither be ye and of them, when ye see the multitude before them\nand behind them, worshipping them.\n6\nBut say ye in your hearts, O Lord, we must worship thee.\n7\nFor mine angel is with you, and I myself caring for your\nsouls.\n8\nAs for their tongue, it is polished by the workman, and they\nthemselves are gilded and laid over with silver; yet are they\nbut false, and cannot speak.\n9\nAnd taking gold, as it were for a virgin that loveth to go\ngay, they make crowns for the heads of their gods.\n10\nSometimes also the priests convey from their gods gold and\nsilver, and bestow it upon themselves.\n11\nYea, they will give thereof to the common harlots, and deck\nthem as men with garments, [being] gods of silver, and gods of\ngold, and wood.\n12\nYet cannot these gods save themselves from rust and moth,\nthough they be covered with purple raiment.\n13\nThey wipe their faces because of the dust of the temple, when\nthere is much upon them.\n14\nAnd he that cannot put to death one that offendeth him\nholdeth a sceptre, as though he were a judge of the country.\n15\nHe hath also in his right hand a dagger and an ax: but cannot\ndeliver himself from war and thieves.\n16\nWhereby they are known not to be gods: therefore fear them\nnot.\n17\nFor like as a vessel that a man useth is nothing worth when\nit is broken; even so it is with their gods: when they be set up\nin the temple, their eyes be full of dust through the feet of\nthem that come in.\n18\nAnd as the doors are made sure on every side upon him that\noffendeth the king, as being committed to suffer death: even so\nthe priests make fast their temples with doors, with locks, and\nbars, lest their gods be spoiled with robbers.\n19\nThey light them candles, yea, more than for themselves,\nwhereof they cannot see one.\n20\nThey are as one of the beams of the temple, yet they say\ntheir hearts are gnawed upon by things creeping out of the\nearth; and when they eat them and their clothes, they feel it\nnot.\n21\nTheir faces are blacked through the smoke that cometh out of\nthe temple.\n22\nUpon their bodies and heads sit bats, swallows, and birds,\nand the cats also.\n23\nBy this ye may know that they are no gods: therefore fear\nthem not.\n24\nNotwithstanding the gold that is about them to make them\nbeautiful, except they wipe off the rust, they will not shine:\nfor neither when they were molten did they feel it.\n25\nThe things wherein there is no breath are bought for a most\nhigh price.\n26\nThey are borne upon shoulders, having no feet whereby they\ndeclare unto men that they be nothing worth.\n27\nThey also that serve them are ashamed: for if they fall to\nthe ground at any time, they cannot rise up again of themselves:\nneither, if one set them upright, can they move of themselves:\nneither, if they be bowed down, can they make themselves\nstraight: but they set gifts before them as unto dead men.\n28\nAs for the things that are sacrificed unto them, their\npriests sell and abuse; in like manner their wives lay up part\nthereof in salt; but unto the poor and impotent they give\nnothing of it.\n29\nMenstruous women and women in childbed eat their sacrifices:\nby these things ye may know that they are no gods: fear them\nnot.\n30\nFor how can they be called gods? because women set meat\nbefore the gods of silver, gold, and wood.\n31\nAnd the priests sit in their temples, having their clothes\nrent, and their heads and beards shaven, and nothing upon their\nheads.\n32\nThey roar and cry before their gods, as men do at the feast\nwhen one is dead.\n33\nThe priests also take off their garments, and clothe their\nwives and children.\n34\nWhether it be evil that one doeth unto them, or good, they\nare not able to recompense it: they can neither set up a king,\nnor put him down.\n35\nIn like manner, they can neither give riches nor money:\nthough a man make a vow unto them, and keep it not, they will\nnot require it.\n36\nThey can save no man from death, neither deliver the weak\nfrom the mighty.\n37\nThey cannot restore a blind man to his sight, nor help any\nman in his distress.\n38\nThey can shew no mercy to the widow, nor do good to the\nfatherless.\n39\nTheir gods of wood, and which are overlaid with gold and\nsilver, are like the stones that be hewn out of the mountain:\nthey that worship them shall be confounded.\n40\nHow should a man then think and say that they are gods, when\neven the Chaldeans themselves dishonour them?\n41\nWho if they shall see one dumb that cannot speak, they bring\nhim, and intreat Bel that he may speak, as though he were able\nto understand.\n42\nYet they cannot understand this themselves, and leave them:\nfor they have no knowledge.\n43\nThe women also with cords about them, sitting in the ways,\nburn bran for perfume: but if any of them, drawn by some that\npasseth by, lie with him, she reproacheth her fellow, that she\nwas not thought as worthy as herself, nor her cord broken.\n44\nWhatsoever is done among them is false: how may it then be\nthought or said that they are gods?\n45\nThey are made of carpenters and goldsmiths: they can be\nnothing else than the workmen will have them to be.\n46\nAnd they themselves that made them can never continue long;\nhow should then the things that are made of them be gods?\n47\nFor they left lies and reproaches to them that come after.\n48\nFor when there cometh any war or plague upon them, the\npriests consult with themselves, where they may be hidden with\nthem.\n49\nHow then cannot men perceive that they be no gods, which can\nneither save themselves from war, nor from plague?\n50\nFor seeing they be but of wood, and overlaid with silver and\ngold, it shall be known hereafter that they are false:\n51\nAnd it shall manifestly appear to all nations and kings that\nthey are no gods, but the works of men's hands, and that there\nis no work of God in them.\n52\nWho then may not know that they are no gods?\n53\nFor neither can they set up a king in the land, nor give rain\nunto men.\n54\nNeither can they judge their own cause, nor redress a wrong,\nbeing unable: for they are as crows between heaven and earth.\n55\nWhereupon when fire falleth upon the house of gods of wood,\nor laid over with gold or silver, their priests will flee away,\nand escape; but they themselves shall be burned asunder like\nbeams.\n56\nMoreover they cannot withstand any king or enemies: how can\nit then be thought or said that they be gods?\n57\nNeither are those gods of wood, and laid over with silver or\ngold, able to escape either from thieves or robbers.\n58\nWhose gold, and silver, and garments wherewith they are\nclothed, they that are strong take, and go away withal: neither\nare they able to help themselves.\n59\nTherefore it is better to be a king that sheweth his power,\nor else a profitable vessel in an house, which the owner shall\nhave use of, than such false gods; or to be a door in an house,\nto keep such things therein, than such false gods. or a pillar\nof wood in a a palace, than such false gods.\n60\nFor sun, moon, and stars, being bright and sent to do their\noffices, are obedient.\n61\nIn like manner the lightning when it breaketh forth is easy\nto be seen; and after the same manner the wind bloweth in every\ncountry.\n62\nAnd when God commandeth the clouds to go over the whole\nworld, they do as they are bidden.\n63\nAnd the fire sent from above to consume hills and woods doeth\nas it is commanded: but these are like unto them neither in shew\nnor power.\n64\nWherefore it is neither to be supposed nor said that they are\ngods, seeing, they are able neither to judge causes, nor to do\ngood unto men.\n65\nKnowing therefore that they are no gods, fear them not,\n66\nFor they can neither curse nor bless kings:\n67\nNeither can they shew signs in the heavens among the heathen,\nnor shine as the sun, nor give light as the moon.\n68\nThe beasts are better than they: for they can get under a\ncover and help themselves.\n69\nIt is then by no means manifest unto us that they are gods:\ntherefore fear them not.\n70\nFor as a scarecrow in a garden of cucumbers keepeth nothing:\nso are their gods of wood, and laid over with silver and gold.\n71\nAnd likewise their gods of wood, and laid over with silver\nand gold, are like to a white thorn in an orchard, that every\nbird sitteth upon; as also to a dead body, that is east into the\ndark.\n72\nAnd ye shall know them to be no gods by the bright purple\nthat rotteth upon them: and they themselves afterward shall be\neaten, and shall be a reproach in the country.\n73\nBetter therefore is the just man that hath none idols: for he\nshall be far from reproach.","title":"The Epistle (or letter) of Jeremiah","type":"page"}