- God tells Israel not to follow the ways of foreign nations or check their horoscopes.
- The peoples of the world have false customs. God leads the reader through a description of how idols are made, showing that they're the work of human hands and not real gods. They're like scarecrows in a cucumber field (yes, it really says that), incapable of evil or good.
- Jeremiah agrees that idols are just the creations of goldsmiths and skilled workers.
- But God's the real deal, not like those images. The people who encourage idol worship are fools.
- The gods who didn't make the earth and heavens are false, temporary, and on deck for destruction.
- Jeremiah says that it's God who made the world and who controls nature—lightning, rain, mist, wind, everything.
- Idols are just delusions. Wake up, people!
- Once Babylon conquers Judea, the people better pack their suitcases for Babylon, because that's where they're going.
- Jeremiah cries out as the voice of all of Israel, saying that his tent is broken and his children have been lost and killed.
- Israel's like a flock, scattered because of its clueless shepherds who failed to follow God.
- The Babylonians are going to destroy Judah so that it will be a place where wild jackals come to hang out.
- Jeremiah says that he knows God directs the steps of human beings and that mortals are helpless without him.
- He asks God to correct him and his people—but not with anger, because that won't work.
- Instead, maybe God could pour out his wrath on some other nations, like the enemies of Israel.