Exodus 20:4
English Standard Version
4 (A)“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
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Leviticus 26:1
English Standard Version
Blessings for Obedience
26 “You shall not make (A)idols for yourselves or erect an (B)image or (C)pillar, and you shall not set up a (D)figured stone in your land to bow down to it, for I am the Lord your God.
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Deuteronomy 5:8
English Standard Version
8 “‘You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
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Deuteronomy 4:15-19
English Standard Version
Idolatry Forbidden
15 (A)“Therefore watch yourselves very carefully. Since (B)you saw no form on the day that the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, 16 beware (C)lest you act corruptly (D)by making a carved image for yourselves, in the form of any figure, (E)the likeness of male or female, 17 the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air, 18 the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth. 19 And beware lest you raise your eyes to heaven, and when you see (F)the sun and the moon and the stars, (G)all the host of heaven, you be drawn away and bow down to them and serve them, things that the Lord your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven.
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Psalm 97:7
English Standard Version
7 All worshipers of images are (A)put to shame,
who make their boast in (B)worthless idols;
(C)worship him, all you gods!
Leviticus 19:4
English Standard Version
4 (A)Do not turn to idols (B)or make for yourselves any gods of cast metal: I am the Lord your God.
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Deuteronomy 27:15
English Standard Version
15 (A)“‘Cursed be the man who makes a carved or cast metal image, an abomination to the Lord, a thing made by the hands of a craftsman, and sets it up in secret.’ (B)And all the people shall answer and say, ‘Amen.’
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Acts 17:29
English Standard Version
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.
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Revelation 16:2
English Standard Version
2 So the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth, and harmful and painful (A)sores came upon the people who bore (B)the mark of the beast and worshiped its image.
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Jeremiah 10:14-16
English Standard Version
14 (A)Every man is stupid and without knowledge;
(B)every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols,
for his images are false,
(C)and there is no breath in them.
15 They are worthless, a work of delusion;
at the time of their punishment they shall perish.
16 Not like these is he who is (D)the portion of Jacob,
for he is the one who formed all things,
(E)and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance;
(F)the Lord of hosts is his name.
Psalm 115:4-8
English Standard Version
4 (A)Their idols are silver and gold,
(B)the work of human hands.
5 They have mouths, (C)but do not speak;
eyes, but do not see.
6 They have ears, but do not hear;
noses, but do not smell.
7 They have hands, but do not feel;
feet, but do not walk;
and they do not make a sound in their throat.
8 (D)Those who make them become like them;
so do all who trust in them.
Romans 1:23
English Standard Version
23 and (A)exchanged the glory of (B)the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
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Jeremiah 10:8-9
English Standard Version
8 (A)They are both (B)stupid and foolish;
the instruction of idols is but wood!
9 (C)Beaten silver is brought from (D)Tarshish,
and gold from (E)Uphaz.
(F)They are the work of the craftsman and of the hands of the goldsmith;
their clothing is violet and purple;
(G)they are all the work of skilled men.
Isaiah 45:16
English Standard Version
16 (A)All of them are put to shame and confounded;
the makers of idols go in confusion together.
Isaiah 42:8
English Standard Version
8 I am the Lord; that is my name;
(A)my glory I give to no other,
nor my praise to carved idols.
Psalm 135:15-18
English Standard Version
15 (A)The idols of the nations are silver and gold,
the work of human hands.
16 They have mouths, but do not speak;
they have eyes, but do not see;
17 they have ears, but do not hear,
nor is there any breath in their mouths.
18 Those who make them become like them,
so do all who trust in them.
Deuteronomy 4:23-25
English Standard Version
23 (A)Take care, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which he made with you, and (B)make a carved image, the form of anything that the Lord your God has forbidden you. 24 For (C)the Lord your God is a consuming fire, (D)a jealous God.
25 “When you father children and children's children, and have grown old in the land, (E)if you act corruptly by making a carved image in the form of anything, and (F)by doing what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God, so as to provoke him to anger,
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Acts 19:26-35
English Standard Version
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. 27 And there is danger not only that this trade of ours may come into disrepute but also that the temple of the (C)great goddess Artemis may be counted as nothing, and that she may even be deposed from her magnificence, she whom all Asia and the world worship.”
28 When they heard this they were enraged and were crying out, (D)“Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” 29 So the city was filled with the confusion, and they rushed together into the theater, dragging with them Gaius and (E)Aristarchus, Macedonians who were Paul's (F)companions in travel. 30 But when Paul wished to go in among the crowd, the disciples would not let him. 31 And even some of the Asiarchs,[a] who were friends of his, sent to him and were urging him not to venture into the theater. 32 (G)Now some cried out one thing, some another, for the assembly was in confusion, and most of them did not know why they had come together. 33 Some of the crowd prompted Alexander, whom the Jews had put forward. And Alexander, (H)motioning with his hand, wanted to make a defense to the crowd. 34 But when they recognized that he was a Jew, for about two hours they all cried out with one voice, (I)“Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”
35 And when the town clerk had quieted the crowd, he said, “Men of Ephesus, who is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is temple keeper of the great Artemis, and of the sacred stone that fell from (J)the sky?[b]
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- Acts 19:31 That is, high-ranking officers of the province of Asia
- Acts 19:35 The meaning of the Greek is uncertain
Ezekiel 8:10
English Standard Version
10 So I went in and saw. And there, (A)engraved on the wall all around, was (B)every form of (C)creeping things and loathsome beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel.
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Revelation 14:9-11
English Standard Version
9 And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone (A)worships the beast and its image and receives (B)a mark on his forehead or on his hand, 10 he also will drink (C)the wine of God's wrath, (D)poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and (E)he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. 11 And (F)the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and (G)they have no rest, day or night, these (H)worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.”
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Jeremiah 10:3-5
English Standard Version
3 (A)for the customs of the peoples are vanity.[a]
(B)A tree from the forest is cut down
and worked with an axe by the hands of a craftsman.
4 (C)They decorate it with silver and gold;
(D)they fasten it with hammer and nails
so that it cannot move.
5 Their idols[b] are like scarecrows in a cucumber field,
and (E)they cannot speak;
(F)they have to be carried,
for they cannot walk.
Do not be afraid of them,
(G)for they cannot do evil,
neither is it in them to do good.”
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 10:3 Or vapor, or mist
- Jeremiah 10:5 Hebrew They
Isaiah 46:5-8
English Standard Version
5 (A)“To whom will you liken me and make me equal,
and compare me, that we may be alike?
6 (B)Those who lavish gold from the purse,
and weigh out silver in the scales,
hire a goldsmith, and he makes it into a god;
(C)then they fall down and worship!
7 (D)They lift it to their shoulders, they carry it,
they set it in its place, and it stands there;
(E)it cannot move from its place.
If one cries to it, it does not answer
or save him from his trouble.
8 “Remember this and stand firm,
recall it to mind, (F)you transgressors,
Isaiah 44:9-20
English Standard Version
The Folly of Idolatry
9 (A)All who fashion idols are nothing, and the things they delight in do not profit. Their witnesses neither see nor know, that they may be put to shame. 10 (B)Who fashions a god or casts an idol that is profitable for nothing? 11 (C)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 (D)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. (E)He shapes it into the figure of a man, with the beauty of a man, to dwell in a house. 14 (F)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. (G)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 (H)abomination? Shall I fall down before a block of wood?” 20 (I)He feeds on (J)ashes; a deluded heart has led him astray, and he cannot deliver himself or say, “Is there not (K)a lie in my right hand?”
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- Isaiah 44:13 Hebrew stylus
Revelation 13:14-15
English Standard Version
14 and by the signs that it is allowed to work in the presence of[a] the beast (A)it deceives those who dwell on earth, telling them to make an image for the beast (B)that was wounded by the sword and yet lived. 15 And it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast might even speak and might cause those who would not (C)worship the image of the beast (D)to be slain.
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- Revelation 13:14 Or on behalf of
Revelation 9:20
English Standard Version
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,
Read full chapterThe Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
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