1819 verses about Idols

Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the children of the captivity were building a temple to Yahweh, the God of Israel;

they came near to Zerubbabel, and to the heads of fathers’ households, and said to them, “Let us build with you; for we seek your God, as you do; and we have been sacrificing to him since the days of Esar Haddon king of Assyria, who brought us up here.”

But Zerubbabel, and Jeshua, and the rest of the heads of fathers’ households of Israel, said to them, “You have nothing to do with us in building a house to our God; but we ourselves together will build to Yahweh, the God of Israel, as king Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us.”

and the rest of the nations whom the great and noble Osnappar brought over, and set in the city of Samaria, and in the rest of the country beyond the River, and so forth, wrote.

The gold and silver vessels of God’s house, which Nebuchadnezzar took out of the temple that was in Jerusalem, and brought into the temple of Babylon, those Cyrus the king also took out of the temple of Babylon, and they were delivered to one whose name was Sheshbazzar, whom he had made governor.

Now when these things were done, the princes came near to me, saying, “The people of Israel, the priests, and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands, following their abominations, even those of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites.

which you have commanded by your servants the prophets, saying, ‘The land, to which you go to possess it, is an unclean land through the uncleanness of the peoples of the lands, through their abominations, which have filled it from one end to another with their filthiness.

Now therefore don’t give your daughters to their sons. Don’t take their daughters to your sons, nor seek their peace or their prosperity forever; that you may be strong, and eat the good of the land, and leave it for an inheritance to your children forever.’

“But they and our fathers behaved proudly, hardened their neck, didn’t listen to your commandments,

Yes, when they had made themselves a molten calf, and said, ‘This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt,’ and had committed awful blasphemies;

“Nevertheless they were disobedient, and rebelled against you, cast your law behind their back, killed your prophets that testified against them to turn them again to you, and they committed awful blasphemies.

and if the peoples of the land bring wares or any grain on the Sabbath day to sell, that we would not buy from them on the Sabbath, or on a holy day; and that we would forego the seventh year, and the exaction of every debt.

Now before this, Eliashib the priest, who was appointed over the rooms of the house of our God, being allied to Tobiah,

It grieved me severely. Therefore I threw all Tobiah’s household stuff out of the room.

Didn’t Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? Yet among many nations was there no king like him, and he was beloved of his God, and God made him king over all Israel. Nevertheless foreign women caused even him to sin.

One of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite; therefore I chased him from me.

After these things King Ahasuerus promoted Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, and advanced him, and set his seat above all the princes who were with him.

All the king’s servants who were in the king’s gate bowed down, and paid homage to Haman; for the king had so commanded concerning him. But Mordecai didn’t bow down or pay him homage.

What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? What profit should we have, if we pray to him?’

“If I have made gold my hope, and have said to the fine gold, ‘You are my confidence;’

if I have seen the sun when it shined, or the moon moving in splendor,

and my heart has been secretly enticed, and my hand threw a kiss from my mouth,

this also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges; for I should have denied the God who is above.

Their sorrows shall be multiplied who give gifts to another god. Their drink offerings of blood I will not offer, nor take their names on my lips.

I hate those who regard lying vanities, but I trust in Yahweh.

A horse is a vain thing for safety, neither does he deliver any by his great power.

If we have forgotten the name of our God, or spread out our hands to a strange god;

I have no need for a bull from your stall, nor male goats from your pens.

Rebuke the wild animal of the reeds, the multitude of the bulls, with the calves of the peoples. Being humbled, may it bring bars of silver. Scatter the nations that delight in war.

Now they break all its carved work down with hatchet and hammers.

They have burned your sanctuary to the ground. They have profaned the dwelling place of your Name.

They said in their heart, “We will crush them completely.” They have burned up all the places in the land where God was worshiped.

Yet they still went on to sin against him, to rebel against the Most High in the desert.

but turned back, and dealt treacherously like their fathers. They were twisted like a deceitful bow.

For they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their engraved images.

When God heard this, he was angry, and greatly abhorred Israel;

So that he abandoned the tent of Shiloh, the tent which he placed among men;

There shall be no strange god in you, neither shall you worship any foreign god.

But my people didn’t listen to my voice. Israel desired none of me.

For great is Yahweh, and greatly to be praised! He is to be feared above all gods.

For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but Yahweh made the heavens.

Let all them be shamed who serve engraved images, who boast in their idols. Worship him, all you gods!

For you, Yahweh, are most high above all the earth. You are exalted far above all gods.

I will set no vile thing before my eyes. I hate the deeds of faithless men. They will not cling to me.

Our fathers didn’t understand your wonders in Egypt. They didn’t remember the multitude of your loving kindnesses, but were rebellious at the sea, even at the Red Sea.

They soon forgot his works. They didn’t wait for his counsel,

They made a calf in Horeb, and worshiped a molten image.

Thus they exchanged their glory for an image of a bull that eats grass.

They forgot God, their Savior, who had done great things in Egypt,

They joined themselves also to Baal Peor, and ate the sacrifices of the dead.

Thus they provoked him to anger with their deeds. The plague broke in on them.

They didn’t destroy the peoples, as Yahweh commanded them,

but mixed themselves with the nations, and learned their works.

They served their idols, which became a snare to them.

Yes, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons.

They shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan. The land was polluted with blood.

Thus were they defiled with their works, and prostituted themselves in their deeds.

Why should the nations say, “Where is their God, now?”

Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands.

They have mouths, but they don’t speak. They have eyes, but they don’t see.

They have ears, but they don’t hear. They have noses, but they don’t smell.

They have hands, but they don’t feel. They have feet, but they don’t walk, neither do they speak through their throat.

Those who make them will be like them; yes, everyone who trusts in them.

Turn my eyes away from looking at worthless things. Revive me in your ways.

For I know that Yahweh is great, that our Lord is above all gods.

The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands.

They have mouths, but they can’t speak. They have eyes, but they can’t see.

They have ears, but they can’t hear; neither is there any breath in their mouths.

Those who make them will be like them; yes, everyone who trusts in them.

If I forget you, Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill.

Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth if I don’t remember you; if I don’t prefer Jerusalem above my chief joy.

Don’t put your trust in princes, each a son of man in whom there is no help.

I also gathered silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and of the provinces. I got myself male and female singers, and the delights of the sons of men—musical instruments, and that of all sorts.

The ox knows his owner, and the donkey his master’s crib; but Israel doesn’t know, my people don’t consider.”

Ah sinful nation, a people loaded with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly! They have forsaken Yahweh. They have despised the Holy One of Israel. They are estranged and backward.

“What are the multitude of your sacrifices to me?”, says Yahweh. “I have had enough of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed animals. I don’t delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of male goats.

Bring no more vain offerings. Incense is an abomination to me; new moons, Sabbaths, and convocations: I can’t stand evil assemblies.

My soul hates your New Moons and your appointed feasts. They are a burden to me. I am weary of bearing them.

How the faithful city has become a prostitute! She was full of justice; righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers.

Your silver has become dross, your wine mixed with water.

For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which you have desired, and you shall be confounded for the gardens that you have chosen.

For you shall be as an oak whose leaf fades, and as a garden that has no water.

For you have forsaken your people, the house of Jacob, because they are filled from the east, with those who practice divination like the Philistines, and they clasp hands with the children of foreigners.

Their land is full of silver and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures. Their land also is full of horses, neither is there any end of their chariots.

Their land also is full of idols. They worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made.

For all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, for all the oaks of Bashan,

For every lofty tower, for every fortified wall,

For all the ships of Tarshish, and for all pleasant imagery.

The idols shall utterly pass away.

In that day, men shall cast away their idols of silver, and their idols of gold, which have been made for themselves to worship, to the moles and to the bats;

In that day the Lord will take away the beauty of their anklets, the headbands, the crescent necklaces,

the headdresses, the ankle chains, the sashes, the perfume bottles, the charms,

What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? Why, when I looked for it to yield grapes, did it yield wild grapes?

The harp, lyre, tambourine, and flute, with wine, are at their feasts; but they don’t respect the work of Yahweh, neither have they considered the operation of his hands.

“Let’s go up against Judah, and tear it apart, and let’s divide it among ourselves, and set up a king within it, even the son of Tabeel.”

When they tell you, “Consult with those who have familiar spirits and with the wizards, who chirp and who mutter:” shouldn’t a people consult with their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living?

They will pass through it, very distressed and hungry; and it will happen that when they are hungry, they will worry, and curse by their king and by their God. They will turn their faces upward,

What will you do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which will come from afar? To whom will you flee for help? Where will you leave your wealth?

However he doesn’t mean so, neither does his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy, and to cut off not a few nations.

As my hand has found the kingdoms of the idols, whose engraved images exceeded those of Jerusalem and of Samaria;