1   Because of the sinnes, that ye haue committed against God, yee shall be led away captiues vnto Babylon, by Nabuchodonosor, King of the Babylonians.

2   So when ye be come into Babylon, yee shall remaine there many yeeres, and a long season, euen seuen generations, and after that will I bring you away peaceablie from thence.

3    ^noteNow shal ye see in Babylon gods of siluer, and of gold, and of wood, borne vpon mens shoulders, to cause the people to feare.

4   Beware therefore that yee in no wise be like the strangers, neither be ye afraid of them, when ye see the multitude before them and behinde them worshipping them,

5   But say ye in your hearts, O Lorde, we must worship thee.

6   For mine Angell shall be with you, and shall care for your soules.

7   As for their tongue, it is polished by the carpenter, & they them selues are gilted, and laide ouer with siluer: yet are they but lies, and can not speake.

8   And as they take golde for a maide that loueth to be deckt,

9   So make they crownes for the heads of their gods: sometimes also the Priests themselues conuey away the golde, and siluer from their gods, and bestowe it vpon themselues.

10   Yea, they giue of the same vnto the harlots, that are in their houses: againe, they decke these gods of siluer, and gods of golde, and of wood with garments like men,

11   Yet can not they be preserued from rust and wormes,

12   Though they haue couered them &wt; clothing of purple, and wipe their faces because of the dust of the Temple, whereof there is much vpon them.

13   One holdeth a scepter, as though he were a certaine iudge of the countrey: yet can he not slaie such as offend him.

14   Another hath a dagger or an axe in his right hande: yet is he not able to defende him selfe from battell, nor from theeues: so then it is euident, that they be no gods.

15   Therefore feare them not: for as vessel that a man vseth, is nothing worth when it is broken:

16   Such are their gods: when they be set vp in their temples their eyes be full of dust by reason of the feete of those that come in.

17   And as the ^note gates are shut in rounde about vpon him þt; hath offended the King: or as one that shoulde be ledde to be put to death: so the priestes keepe their temples with doores, and with lockes, and with barres, least their gods shoulde be spoyled by robbers.

18   They light vp candles before them, yea, more then for them selues, whereof they can not see one: for they are but as one of the postes of the temple.

19   They confesse, þt; euen their hearts are gnawen vpon: but when the things, that creepe out of the earth, eate them and their clothes, they feele it not.

20   Their faces are blacke through the smoke that is in the temple.

21   The owles, swalowes & birdes flie vpon their bodies, & vpon their heades, yea, and the cattes also.

22   By this yee may be sure, that they are not gods: therefore feare them not.

23   Notwithstanding the golde, that is about them to make them beautifull, except one wipe of the rust, they cannot shine: neither when they were molten, did they feele it.

24   The things wherein is no breath, are bought for a most high price.

25    ^noteThey are borne vpon mens shoulders, because they haue no feete, whereby they declare vnto men, that they be nothing woorth: yea, and they that worship them, are ashamed.

26   For if they fall to the grounde at any time, they can not rise vp againe of themselues, neither if one set them vp right, can they mooue of them selues, neither if they be bowed downe, can they make them selues streight: but they set gifts before them, as vnto dead men.

27   As for the things that are offered vnto them, their Priests sell them, and abuse them: likewise also the women lay vp of the same: but vnto the poore and sicke they giue nothing.

28   The menstruous women, and they that are in childbed, touch their sacrifices: by these things ye may knowe that they are no gods: feare them not.

29   From whence commeth it then, that they are called gods? because the women bring giftes to the gods of siluer, and golde, and wood.

30   And the priestes sit in their temples, hauing their clothes rent, whose heades and beards are shauen, and being bare headed,

31   They roare, and cry before their gods, as men doe at the feast of one that is dead.

32   The priests also take away of their garments, and clothe their wiues and children.

33   Whether it be euil that one doeth vnto them or good, they are not able to recompence it: they can neither set vp a King nor put him downe.

34   In like maner they can neither giue riches, nor money: though a man make a vowe vnto them and keepe it not, they will not require it.

35   They can saue no man from death, neither deliuer the weake from the mightie.

36   They cannot restore a blind man to his sight, nor helpe any man at his neede.

37   They can shewe no mercy to the widdowe, nor doe good to the fatherlesse.

38   Their gods of wood, golde, and siluer, are as stones, that bee hewen out of the mountaine, and

they that worship them, shall be confounded.

39   Howe shoulde a man then thinke or say that they are Gods?

40   Moreouer the Chaldeans them selues dishonour them: for when they see a domme man, that can not speake, they present him to Bel,

41   And desire that hee woulde make him to speake, as though he had any feeling: yet they that vnderstande these thinges, can not leaue them: for they also haue no sense.

42   Furthermore the wom&ebar;, girded with coards, sitte in the streetes, and burne ^note strawe.

43   And if one of them be drawen away, and lie with any such as come by, shee casteth her neighbour in the teeth, because shee was not so worthily reputed, nor her coarde broken.

44   Whatsoeuer is done among them, is lies: how may it then be thought or saide, that they are gods?

45   Carpenters and goldsmithes make them, neither be they any other thing, but euen what the workeman will make them.

46   Yea, they that make them, are of no long c&obar;tinuance: how should then the things that are made of them, be gods?

47   Therefore they leaue lies, and shame for their posteritie.

48   For when there c&obar;meth any warre or plague vpon them, the Priestes imagine with them selues, where they may hide themselues with them.

49   Howe then can men not perceiue, that they be no gods, which can neither defende themselues, from warre nor from plagues:

50   For ^note seeing they be but of wood, and of siluer, and of golde, men shall knowe hereafter that they are but lies, and it shall be manifest to all nations & Kings, that they be no gods, but the workes of mens handes, and that there is no woorke of God in them.

51   Whereby it may be knowen, that they are no gods.

52   They can set vp no King in the lande, nor giue raine vnto men.

53   They can giue no sentence of a matter, neither preserue from iniurie: they haue no power, but are as crowes betweene the heauen and the earth.

54   When there falleth a fire vpon the house of those gods of wood, and of siluer, and of golde, the priestes will escape and saue them selues, but they burne as the balkes therein.

55   They cannot &wt;stand any King or enemies: how can it then be thought or said þt; they be gods?

56   Moreouer these gods of wood, of golde, and of siluer can neither def&ebar;d themselues from theeues nor robbers.

57   For they that are strongest, take away their golde and siluer, and apparell, wherewith they be clothed: and when they haue it, they get them away, yet can they not helpe themselues.

58   Therefore it is better to be a King, and so to shewe his power, or els a profitable vessell in an house, whereby hee that oweth it, might haue profite, then such false gods: or to bee a doore in an house, to keepe such thinges safe as be therein, then such false gods: or a pillar of wood in a palace, then such false gods.

59   For the sunne, and the moone, & the starres that shine, when they are sent downe for necessarie vses, obey.

60   Likewise also the lightning, when it shineth, it is euident: and the winde bloweth in euery countrey.

61   And when God commandeth the cloudes to go about þe; whole world, they do as they are bidden.

62   When the fire is sent downe from aboue to destroy hilles and woodes, it doeth that which is commaunded: but these are not like any of these things, neither in forme, nor power.

63   Wherefore men should not thinke, nor say that they be goddes, seeing they can neither giue sentence in iudgement, nor doe men good.

64   For so much nowe as yee are sure, that they be no gods, feare them not.

65   For they can neither curse, nor blesse Kings:

66   Neither can they shewe signes in the heauen among the heathen, neither shine as the moone.

67   The beastes are better then they: for they c&abar; get them vnder a couert, & do themselues good.

68   So yee may bee certified that by no maner of, meanes, they are gods: therefore feare them not.

69   For as a skarcrowe in a garden of cucumbers keepeth nothing, so are their goddes of wood, and of siluer, and of golde:

70   And likewise their gods of wood, and golde and siluer are like to a white thorne in an orcharde, that euery birde sitteth vpon, and as a deade bodie that is cast in the darke.

71   By the purple also and brightnesse, which fadeth vpon them, yee may vnderstande, that they be no gods: yea, they themselues shall be consumed at the last, and they shall be a shame to the countrey.

72   Better therefore is the iust man, that hath none idoles: for he shalbe farre from reproofe.

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