1819 verses about Idols

But again even they are not to be excused.

For if they had power to know so much, That they should be able to explore the course of things, How is it that they did not sooner find the Sovereign Lord of these his works?

But miserable were they, and in dead things were their hopes, Who called them gods which are works of men’s hands, Gold and silver, wrought with careful are, and likenesses of animals, Or a useless stone, the work of an ancient hand.

Yes and if some woodcutter, having sawn down a tree that is easily moved, Skilfully strippeth away all its bark, And fashioning it in comely form makes a vessel useful for the service of life;

And burning the refuse of his handywork to dress his food, eats his fill;

And taking the very refuse thereof which served to no use, A crooked piece of wood and full of knots, Carveth it with the diligence of his idleness, And shapeth it by the skill of his indolence; Then he gives it the semblance of the image of a man,

Or makes it like some paltry animal, Smearing it with red, and with paint colouring it red, And smearing over every stain that is therein;

And having made for it a chamber worthy of it, He sets it in a wall, making it fast with iron.

While then he takes thought for it that it may not fall down, Knowing that it is unable to help itself; (For verily it is an image, and has need of help;)

When he makes his prayer concerning goods and his marriage and children, He is not ashamed to speak to that which has no life;

Yes for health he calls upon that which is weak, And for life he implores that which is dead, And for aid he supplicateth that which has least experience. And for a good journey that which can’t so much as move a step,

And for gaining and getting and good success of his hands He asks ability of that which with its hands is most unable.

Again, one preparing to sail, and about to journey over raging waves, Calleth upon a piece of wood more rotten than the vessel that carries him;

But the idol made with hands is accursed, itself and he that made it; Because his was the working, and the corruptible thing was named a god:

Therefore also among the idols of the nations will there be a visitation, Because, though formed of things which God created, they were made an abomination, And stumbling blocks to the souls of men, And a snare to the feet of the foolish.

For the devising of idols was the beginning of fornication, And the invention of them the corruption of life:

For neither were they from the beginning, neither will they be forever;

For by the vaingloriousness of men they entered into the world, And therefore was a speedy end devised for them.

For a father worn with untimely grief, Making an image of the child quickly taken away, Now honored him as a god which was then a dead man, And delivered to those that were under him mysteries and solemn rites.

Afterward the ungodly custom, in process of time grown strong, was kept as a law, And by the commandments of princes the graven images received worship.

And when men could not honor them in presence because they lived far off, Imagining the likeness from afar, They made a visible image of the king whom they honored, That by their zeal they might flatter the absent as if present.

But to a yet higher pitch was worship raised even by those who knew him not, Urged forward by the ambition of the architect:

For he, wishing perhaps to please one in authority, Used his are to force the likeness toward a greater beauty;

And the multitude, allured by reason of the grace of his handywork, Now accounted as an object of devotion him that a little before was honored as a man.

And this became a hidden danger to life, Because men, in bondage either to calamity or to tyranny, Invested stones and stocks with the incommunicable Name.

Afterward it was not enough for them to go astray as touching the knowledge of God; But also, while they live in sore conflict through ignorance of him. That multitude of evils they call peace.

For either slaughtering children in solemn rites, or celebrating secret mysteries, Or holding frantic revels of strange ordinances,

turmoil, Ingratitude for benefits received, Defiling of souls, confusion of sex, Disorder in marriage, adultery and wantonness.

For the worship of those nameless idols Is a beginning and cause and end of every evil.

For their worshippers either make merry to madness, or prophesy lies, Or live unrighteously, or lightly forswear themselves.

For putting their trust in lifeless idols, When they have sworn a wicked oath, they expect not to suffer harm.

But for both sins will the just doom pursue them, Because they had evil thoughts of God by giving heed to idols, And swore unrighteously in deceit through contempt for holiness.

For we weren’t led astray by any evil plan of men’s, Nor yet by painters’ fruitless labor, A form stained with varied colors;

The sight whereof leads fools into lust: Their desire is for the breathless form of a dead image.

Lovers of evil things, and worthy of such hopes as these, Are both those who do, and those who desire, and those who worship.

And also, laboring to an evil end, he mouldeth a vain god out of the same clay, He who, having but a little before been made of earth, After a short space goes his way to the earth out of which he was taken, When he is required to render back the soul which was lent him.

Howbeit he has anxious care, Not because his powers must fail, Nor because his span of life is short; But he matcheth himself against goldsmiths and silversmiths, And he imitateth moulders in brass, And esteemeth it glory that he mouldeth counterfeits.

His heart is ashes, And his hope of less value than earth, And his life of less honor than clay:

For this man beyond all others knows that he sins, Out of earthy matter making brittle vessels and graven images.

Because they even accounted all the idols of the nations to be gods; Which have neither the use of eyes for seeing, Nor nostrils for drawing breath, Nor ears to hear, Nor fingers for handling, And their feet are helpless for walking.

For a man made them, And one whose own spirit is borrowed moulded them; For no one has power, being a man, to mould a god like to himself,

But, being mortal, he makes a dead thing by the work of lawless hands; For he is better than the objects of his worship, Forasmuch as he indeed had life, but they never.

Yes, and the creatures that are most hateful do they worship, For, being compared as to lack of sense, these are worse than all others;

Neither, as seen beside other creatures, are they beautiful, so that one should desire them, But they have escaped both the praise of God and his blessing.

For this cause were these men worthily punished through creatures like those which they worship, And tormented through a multitude of vermin.

What does an offering profit an idol? For neither shall it eat nor smell: So is he that is afflicted of the Lord,

Many have been given over to ruin for the sake of gold; And their perdition meets them face to face.

It is a stumbling block to those who sacrifice to it; And every fool shall be taken therewith.

Divinations, and soothsayings, and dreams, are vain: And the heart fancies, as a woman’s in travail.

With twisted scarlet, the work of the craftsman; With precious stones graven like a signet, in a setting of gold, the work of the jeweller, For a memorial engraved in writing, after the number of the tribes of Israel;

Also the judges, every one by his name, All whose hearts went not a whoring, And who turned not away from the Lord, May their memorial be blessed.

For they gave their power to others, And their glory to a strange nation.

They that sit upon the mountain of Samaria, and the Philistines, And that foolish people that dwells in Sichem.

at the same time when he took the vessels of the house of the Lord, that had been carried out of the temple, to return them into the land of Judah, the tenth day of the month Sivan, namely, silver vessels, which Sedekias the son of Josias king of Judah had made,

after that Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon had carried away Jechonias, and the princes, and the captives, and the mighty men, and the people of the land, from Jerusalem, and brought them to Babylon.

but we walked every man in the imagination of his own wicked heart, to serve strange gods, and to do that which is evil in the sight of the Lord our God.

Thus says the Lord, Bow your shoulders to serve the king of Babylon, and remain in the land that I gave to your fathers.

those who had their pastime with the fowls of the air, and those who hoarded up silver and gold, wherein men trust; and of whose getting there is no end?

For those who wrought in silver, and were so careful, and whose works are past finding out,

This is our God, and there shall none other be accounted of in comparison of him.

Give not your glory to another, nor the things that are profitable to you to a strange nation.

For you⌃ provoked him that made you by sacrificing to demons, and not to God.

But now shall you⌃ see in Babylon gods of silver, and of gold, and of wood, borne upon shoulders, which cause the nations to fear.

Beware therefore that you⌃ in no wise become like to the strangers, neither let fear take hold upon you because of them, when you⌃ see the multitude before them and behind them, worshipping them.

But say you⌃ in your hearts, O Lord, we must worship you.

For their tongue is polished by the workman, and they themselves are overlaid with gold and with silver; yet are they but false, and can’t speak.

And taking gold, as it were for a virgin that loves to go gay, they make crowns for the heads of their gods:

and sometimes also the priests convey from their gods gold and silver, and bestow it upon themselves;

and will even give thereof to the common harlots: and they deck them as men with garments, even the gods of silver, and gods of gold, and of wood.

Yet can’t these gods save themselves from rust and moths, though they be covered with purple raiment.

They wipe their faces because of the dust of the temple, which is thick upon them.

He has also a dagger in his right hand, and an axe: but can’t deliver himself from war and robbers.

Whereby they are known not to be gods: therefore fear them not.

For like as a vessel that a man uses is nothing worth when it is broken; even so it is with their gods: when they be set up in the temples their eyes be full of dust through the feet of those who come in.

And as the courts are made sure on every side upon him that offends the king, as being committed to suffer death; even so the priests make fast their temples with doors, with locks, and bars, lest they be carried off by robbers.

They light them candles, yes, more than for themselves, whereof they can’t see one.

They are as one of the beams of the temple; and men say their hearts are eaten out, when things creeping out of the earth devour both them and their raiment: they feel it not

when their faces are blacked through the smoke that comes out of the temple:

upon their bodies and heads alight bats, swallows, and birds; and in like manner the cats also.

Whereby you⌃ may know that they are no gods: therefore fear them not.

Notwithstanding the gold wherewith they are beset to make them beautiful, except one wipe off the rust, they will not shine: for not even when they were molten did they feel it.

Things wherein there is no breath are bought at any cost.

Having no feet, they are borne upon shoulders, whereby they declare to men that they be nothing worth.

They also that serve them are ashamed: for if they fall to the ground at any time, they can’t rise up again of themselves: neither, if they be set awry, can they make themselves straight: but the offerings are set before them, as if they were dead men.

And the things that are sacrificed to them, their priests sell and spend; and in like manner their wives also lay up part thereof in salt; but to the poor and to the impotent will they give nothing thereof.

The menstruous woman and the woman in childbed touch their sacrifices: knowing therefore by these things that they are no gods, fear them not.

For how can they be called gods? because women set meat before the gods of silver, gold, and wood.

And in their temples the priests sit on seats, having their clothes tore, and their heads and beards shaven, and nothing upon their heads.

They roar and cry before their gods, as men do at the feast when one is dead.

Whether it be evil that one does to them, or good, they are not able to recompense it: they can neither set up a king, nor put him down.

In like manner, they can neither give riches nor money: though a man make a vow to them, and keep it not, they will never exact it.

They can’t restore a blind man to his sight, nor deliver any that is in distress.

They are like the stones that be hewn out of the mountain, these gods of wood, and that are overlaid with gold and with silver: those who minister to them shall be confounded.

How should a man then think or say that they are gods, when even the Chaldeans themselves dishonor them?

Who if they shall see one dumb that can’t speak, they bring him, and entreat him to call upon Bel, as though he were able to understand.

The women also with cords about them sit in the ways, burning bran for incense: but if any of them, drawn by some that passes by, lie with him, she reproaches her fellow, that she was not thought as worthy as herself, nor her cord broken.

Whatsoever is done among them is false: how should a man then think or say that they are gods?

They are fashioned by carpenters and goldsmiths: they can be nothing else than the workmen will have them to be.

And they themselves that fashioned them can never continue long; how then should the things that are fashioned by them?

For when there comes any war or plague upon them, the priests consult with themselves, where they may be hidden with them.