²¹ Little children, keep yourselves from idols.^[a]

¹⁴ Therefore, my beloved, flee from the worship of idols.^(A)

⁷ Do not become idolaters as some of them did, as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and they rose up to play.”^(A)

³ you shall have no other gods before^[a] me.^(A)

⁴ “You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above or that is on the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth.^(B)

¹⁶ What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we^[a] are the temple of the living God, as God said,

⁹ For they report about us what kind of welcome we had among you and how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God^(A)

²⁰ The rest of humankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands or give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk.^(A)

Christ Our Advocate

2 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous,^(A)

¹⁴ and by the signs that it is allowed to perform on behalf of the beast it deceives the inhabitants of earth, telling them to make an image for the beast that had been wounded by the sword^[a] and yet lived,^{(A) 15} and it was allowed to give breath^[b] to the image of the beast so that the image of the beast could even speak and cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be killed.