all will be put to shame because of a nation that cannot help them, who cannot give them aid or help, but only shame and disgrace.”

Does he argue with useless talk, with words that have no value in them?

They destroy my path; they succeed in destroying me without anyone assisting them.

But you say, ‘What will it profit you,’ and, ‘What do I gain by not sinning?’

Treasures gained by wickedness do not profit, but righteousness delivers from mortal danger.

Wealth does not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from mortal danger.

Who forms a god and casts an idol that will prove worthless?

I will denounce your so-called righteousness and your deeds, but they will not help you.

Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him? What would we gain if we were to pray to him?’

Has a nation ever changed its gods (even though they are not really gods at all)? But my people have exchanged me, their glorious God, for a god that cannot help them at all!

“‘But just look at you! You are putting your confidence in a false belief that will not deliver you.

My people will sow wheat, but will harvest weeds. They will work until they are exhausted, but will get nothing from it. They will be disappointed in their harvests because the Lord will take them away in his fierce anger.

I, the Lord, affirm that I am opposed to those prophets who dream up lies and report them. They are misleading my people with their reckless lies. I did not send them. I did not commission them. They are not helping these people at all. I, the Lord, affirm it!”

You should not turn aside after empty things that can’t profit and can’t deliver, since they are empty.

All who form idols are nothing; the things in which they delight are worthless. Their witnesses cannot see; they recognize nothing, so they are put to shame.

Persist in trusting your amulets and your many incantations, which you have faithfully recited since your youth! Maybe you will be successful – maybe you will scare away disaster.

This is what the Lord, your protector, says, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you how to succeed, who leads you in the way you should go.

What good is an idol? Why would a craftsman make it? What good is a metal image that gives misleading oracles? Why would its creator place his trust in it and make such mute, worthless things?

This is a message about the animals in the Negev: Through a land of distress and danger, inhabited by lionesses and roaring lions, by snakes and darting adders, they transport their wealth on the backs of donkeys, their riches on the humps of camels, to a nation that cannot help them.

Your priests did not ask, ‘Where is the Lord?’ Those responsible for teaching my law did not really know me. Your rulers rebelled against me. Your prophets prophesied in the name of the god Baal. They all worshiped idols that could not help them.