Habakkuk 2:18
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
18 What use is an idol
once its maker has shaped it—
a cast image, a teacher of lies?
For its maker trusts in what has been made,
though the product is only an idol that cannot speak!(A)
Jeremiah 10:8
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Zechariah 10:2
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
2 For the teraphim[a] utter nonsense,
and the diviners see lies;
the dreamers tell false dreams
and give empty consolation.
Therefore the people[b] wander like sheep;
they suffer for lack of a shepherd.(A)
Isaiah 44:9-10
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
The Absurdity of Idol Worship
9 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)
Read full chapter
Isaiah 42:17
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
17 They shall be turned back and utterly put to shame—
those who trust in carved images,
who say to cast images,
“You are our gods.”(A)
1 Corinthians 12:2
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
2 You know that when you were gentiles you were enticed and led astray to idols that could not speak.(A)
Read full chapter
Psalm 135:15-18
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
15 The idols of the nations are silver and gold,
the work of human hands.(A)
16 They have mouths, but they do not speak;
they have eyes, but they do not see;
17 they have ears, but they do not hear,
a nose, but there is no breath in their mouths.
18 Those who make them
and all who trust them
shall become like them.
Psalm 115:4-8
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
4 Their idols are silver and gold,
the work of human hands.(A)
5 They have mouths, but they do not speak;
they have eyes, but they do not see.
6 They have ears, but they do not hear;
they have noses, but they do not smell.
7 They have hands, but they do not feel;
they have feet, but they do not walk;
they make no sound in their throats.
8 Those who make them are like them;
so are all who trust in them.(B)
Jeremiah 2:27-28
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
27 who say to a tree, “You are my father,”
and to a stone, “You gave me birth.”
For they have turned their backs to me
and not their faces.
But in the time of their trouble they say,
“Come and save us!”(A)
28 But where are your gods
that you made for yourself?
Let them come, if they can save you,
in your time of trouble,
for you have as many gods
as you have towns, O Judah.(B)
Isaiah 45:16
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
16 All of them are put to shame and confounded;
the makers of idols go in disgrace together.(A)
Revelation 19:20
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
20 And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who had performed in its presence the signs by which he deceived those who had received the brand of the beast and those who worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur.
Read full chapter
Revelation 13:11-15
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
The Second Beast
11 Then I saw another beast that rose out of the earth; it had two horns like a lamb, and it spoke like a dragon. 12 It exercises all the authority of the first beast on its behalf, and it makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound[a] had been healed. 13 It performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in the sight of all,(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[b] and yet lived,(B) 15 and it was allowed to give breath[c] 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.
Read full chapter
1 Timothy 4:1-2
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
False Asceticism
4 Now the Spirit expressly says that in later[a] times some will renounce[b] the faith by paying attention to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons,(A) 2 through the hypocrisy of liars whose consciences are seared with a hot iron.
Read full chapter
2 Thessalonians 2:9-11
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
9 The coming of the lawless one is apparent in the working of Satan, who uses all power, signs, lying wonders,(A) 10 and every kind of wicked deception for those who are perishing because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.(B) 11 For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion, leading them to believe what is false,(C)
Read full chapter
Romans 6:21
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
21 So what fruit did you then gain from the things of which you now are ashamed? The end of those things is death.(A)
Read full chapter
Romans 1:23-25
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
23 and they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling a mortal human or birds or four-footed animals or reptiles.(A)
24 Therefore God gave them over in the desires of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves.(B) 25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.(C)
Read full chapter
Jonah 2:8
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
8 Those who worship vain idols
forsake their true loyalty.(A)
Jeremiah 50:2
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
2 Declare among the nations and proclaim;
set up a banner and proclaim;
do not conceal it, say:
“Babylon is taken;
Bel is put to shame;
Merodach is dismayed.
Her images are put to shame;
her idols are dismayed.”(A)
Jeremiah 10:14-15
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
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.(A)
15 They are worthless, a work of delusion;
at the time of their punishment they shall perish.
Jeremiah 10:3-5
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
3 For the customs of the peoples are false:
a tree from the forest is cut down
and worked with an ax by the hands of an artisan;(A)
4 they deck it with silver and gold;
they fasten it with hammers and nails
so that it cannot move.(B)
5 Their idols[a] are like scarecrows in a cucumber field,
and they cannot speak;
they have to be carried,
for they cannot walk.
Do not be afraid of them,
for they cannot do evil,
nor is it in them to do good.(C)
Footnotes
- 10.5 Heb They
Isaiah 46:6-8
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
6 Those who lavish gold from the purse
and weigh out silver in the scales—
they hire a goldsmith, who makes it into a god;
then they fall down and worship!(A)
7 They lift it to their shoulders; they carry it;
they set it in its place, and it stands there;
it cannot move from its place.
If one cries out to it, it does not answer
or save anyone from trouble.(B)
Footnotes
- 46.8 Meaning of Heb uncertain
Isaiah 46:1-2
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
46 Bel bows down; Nebo stoops;
their idols are on beasts and cattle;
these things you carry are loaded
as burdens on weary animals.(A)
2 They stoop; they bow down together;
they cannot save the burden
but themselves go into captivity.(B)
Isaiah 45:20
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Idols Cannot Save Babylon
20 Assemble yourselves and come together;
draw near, you survivors of the nations!
They have no knowledge—
those who carry about their wooden idols
and keep on praying to a god
that cannot save.(A)
Isaiah 44:14-20
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
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.(A) 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!”(B)
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.(C) 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?”(D) 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?”(E)
Read full chapter
Isaiah 37:38
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
38 As he was worshiping in the house of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him with the sword, and they escaped into the land of Ararat. His son Esar-haddon succeeded him.(A)
Read full chapterNew Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.