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26 For all the gods of the peoples are idols,
    but the Lord made the heavens.(A)

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25 Long ago you laid the foundation of the earth,
    and the heavens are the work of your hands.(A)

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Do not turn to idols or make cast images for yourselves: I am the Lord your God.(A)

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24 Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer,
    who formed you in the womb:
I am the Lord, who made all things,
    who alone stretched out the heavens,
    who by myself spread out the earth;(A)

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Thus says God, the Lord,
    who created the heavens and stretched them out,
    who spread out the earth and what comes from it,
who gives breath to the people upon it
    and spirit to those who walk in it:(A)

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He said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, for the hour of his judgment has come, and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.”(A)

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Hence, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that “no idol in the world really exists” and that “there is no God but one.”(A)

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26 You also see and hear that not only in Ephesus but in almost the whole of Asia this Paul has persuaded and drawn away a considerable number of people by saying that gods made with hands are not gods.(A)

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10 But the Lord is the true God;
    he is the living God and the everlasting King.
At his wrath the earth quakes,
    and the nations cannot endure his indignation.[a](A)

11 Thus shall you say to them: The gods who did not make the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth and from under the heavens.[b](B)

12 It is he who made the earth by his power,
    who established the world by his wisdom
    and by his understanding stretched out the heavens.(C)
13 When he utters his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens,
    and he makes the mist rise from the ends of the earth.
He makes lightning for the rain
    and brings out the wind from his storehouses.(D)
14 Everyone is stupid and without knowledge;
    goldsmiths are all put to shame by their idols,
for their images are false,
    and there is no breath in them.(E)

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Footnotes

  1. 10.10 Q ms Gk lack 10.10
  2. 10.11 This verse is in Aramaic

The Absurdity of Idol Worship

All who make idols are nothing, and the things they delight in do not profit; their witnesses neither see nor know, and so they will be put to shame.(A) 10 Who would fashion a god or cast an image that can do no good?(B) 11 All its devotees shall be put to shame; the artisans, too, are merely human. Let them all assemble; let them stand up; they shall be terrified; they shall all be put to shame.(C)

12 The blacksmith works it with a tool over the coals, shaping it with hammers and forging it with his strong arm; he becomes hungry, and his strength fails; he drinks no water and is faint.(D) 13 The carpenter stretches a line, marks it out with a stylus, fashions it with planes, and marks it with a compass; he makes it in human form, with human beauty, to be set up in a shrine.(E) 14 He cuts down cedars or chooses a holm tree or an oak and lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest. He plants a cedar and the rain nourishes it. 15 Then it can be used as fuel. Part of it he takes and warms himself; he kindles a fire and bakes bread. Then he makes a god and worships it, makes it a carved image and bows down before it.(F) 16 Half of it he burns in the fire; over this half he roasts meat, eats it,[a] and is satisfied. He also warms himself and says, “Ah, I am warm[b] by the fire!” 17 The rest of it he makes into a god, his idol, bows down to it and worships it; he prays to it and says, “Save me, for you are my god!”(G)

18 They do not know, nor do they comprehend, for their eyes are shut, so that they cannot see, and their minds as well, so that they cannot understand.(H) 19 No one considers, nor is there knowledge or discernment to say, “Half of it I burned in the fire; I also baked bread on its coals; I roasted meat and have eaten. Now shall I make the rest of it an abomination? Shall I fall down before a block of wood?”(I) 20 He feeds on ashes; a deluded mind has led him astray, and he cannot save himself or say, “Is not this thing in my right hand a fraud?”(J)

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Footnotes

  1. 44.16 Cn Compare Gk Syr: Heb he eats, he roasts a roast
  2. 44.16 Q ms: MT I see

26 Lift up your eyes on high and see:
    Who created these?
He who brings out their host and numbers them,
    calling them all by name;
because he is great in strength,
    mighty in power,
    not one is missing.(A)

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Their idols are silver and gold,
    the work of human hands.(A)
They have mouths, but they do not speak;
    they have eyes, but they do not see.
They have ears, but they do not hear;
    they have noses, but they do not smell.
They have hands, but they do not feel;
    they have feet, but they do not walk;
    they make no sound in their throats.
Those who make them are like them;
    so are all who trust in them.(B)

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