²⁶ And you see and hear that not only in Ephesus but in almost all of Asia this Paul has persuaded and turned away a great many people, ^(A)saying that ^(B)gods made with hands are not gods.

⁴ Therefore, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that ^(A)“an idol has no real existence,” and that ^(B)“there is no God but one.”

^29 (A)Being then God's offspring, ^(B)we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man.

^10 (A)Who fashions a god or casts an idol that is profitable for nothing? ^11 (B)Behold, all his companions shall be put to shame, and the craftsmen are only human. Let them all assemble, let them stand forth. They shall be terrified; they shall be put to shame together.

^12 (C)The ironsmith takes a cutting tool and works it over the coals. He fashions it with hammers and works it with his strong arm. He becomes hungry, and his strength fails; he drinks no water and is faint. ¹³ The carpenter stretches a line; he marks it out with a pencil.^[a] He shapes it with planes and marks it with a compass. ^(D)He shapes it into the figure of a man, with the beauty of a man, to dwell in a house. ^14 (E)He cuts down cedars, or he chooses a cypress 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 becomes fuel for a man. He takes a part of it and warms himself; he kindles a fire and bakes bread. Also he makes a god and worships it; he makes it an idol and falls down before it. ¹⁶ Half of it he burns in the fire. Over the half he eats meat; he roasts it and is satisfied. Also he warms himself and says, “Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire!” ¹⁷ And the rest of it he makes into a god, his idol, and falls down to it and worships it. ^(F)He prays to it and says, “Deliver me, for you are my god!”

¹⁸ They know not, nor do they discern, for he has shut their eyes, so that they cannot see, and their hearts, so that they cannot understand. 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. And shall I make the rest of it an ^(G)abomination? Shall I fall down before a block of wood?” ^20 (H)He feeds on ^(I)ashes; a deluded heart has led him astray, and he cannot deliver himself or say, “Is there not ^(J)a lie in my right hand?”

²⁰ The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, ^(A)did not repent of ^(B)the works of their hands nor give up worshiping ^(C)demons ^(D)and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk,

¹⁰ This continued for ^(A)two years, so that ^(B)all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.

¹⁵ “Men, ^(A)why are you doing these things? We also are men, ^(B)of like nature with you, and we bring you good news, that ^(C)you should turn from these ^(D)vain things to ^(E)a living God, ^(F)who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them.

²⁸ And ^(A)there you will serve gods of wood and stone, the work of human hands, ^(B)that neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.

⁹ For they themselves report concerning us the kind of ^(A)reception we had among you, and how ^(B)you turned to God ^(C)from idols to serve the living and ^(D)true God,