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Their idols are merely things of silver and gold,
    shaped by human hands.

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But their idols are silver and gold,(A)
    made by human hands.(B)

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28 There, in a foreign land, you will worship idols made from wood and stone—gods that neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell.

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28 There you will worship man-made gods(A) of wood and stone,(B) which cannot see or hear or eat or smell.(C)

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Some people pour out their silver and gold
    and hire a craftsman to make a god from it.
    Then they bow down and worship it!
They carry it around on their shoulders,
    and when they set it down, it stays there.
    It can’t even move!
And when someone prays to it, there is no answer.
    It can’t rescue anyone from trouble.

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Some pour out gold from their bags
    and weigh out silver on the scales;
they hire a goldsmith(A) to make it into a god,
    and they bow down and worship it.(B)
They lift it to their shoulders and carry(C) it;
    they set it up in its place, and there it stands.
    From that spot it cannot move.(D)
Even though someone cries out to it, it cannot answer;(E)
    it cannot save(F) them from their troubles.

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Their ways are futile and foolish.
    They cut down a tree, and a craftsman carves an idol.
They decorate it with gold and silver
    and then fasten it securely with hammer and nails
    so it won’t fall over.
Their gods are like
    helpless scarecrows in a cucumber field!
They cannot speak,
    and they need to be carried because they cannot walk.
Do not be afraid of such gods,
    for they can neither harm you nor do you any good.”

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For the practices of the peoples are worthless;
    they cut a tree out of the forest,
    and a craftsman(A) shapes it with his chisel.(B)
They adorn it with silver(C) and gold;
    they fasten it with hammer and nails
    so it will not totter.(D)
Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field,
    their idols cannot speak;(E)
they must be carried
    because they cannot walk.(F)
Do not fear them;
    they can do no harm(G)
    nor can they do any good.”(H)

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Babylon’s False Gods

46 Bel and Nebo, the gods of Babylon,
    bow as they are lowered to the ground.
They are being hauled away on ox carts.
    The poor beasts stagger under the weight.
Both the idols and their owners are bowed down.
    The gods cannot protect the people,
and the people cannot protect the gods.
    They go off into captivity together.

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Gods of Babylon

46 Bel(A) bows down, Nebo stoops low;
    their idols(B) are borne by beasts of burden.[a]
The images that are carried(C) about are burdensome,
    a burden for the weary.
They stoop and bow down together;
    unable to rescue the burden,
    they themselves go off into captivity.(D)

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 46:1 Or are but beasts and cattle

19 Can he be compared to an idol formed in a mold,
    overlaid with gold, and decorated with silver chains?
20 Or if people are too poor for that,
    they might at least choose wood that won’t decay
and a skilled craftsman
    to carve an image that won’t fall down!

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19 As for an idol,(A) a metalworker casts it,
    and a goldsmith(B) overlays it with gold(C)
    and fashions silver chains for it.
20 A person too poor to present such an offering
    selects wood(D) that will not rot;
they look for a skilled worker
    to set up an idol(E) that will not topple.(F)

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26 But as you have seen and heard, this man Paul has persuaded many people that handmade gods aren’t really gods at all. And he’s done this not only here in Ephesus but throughout the entire province!

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26 And you see and hear how this fellow Paul has convinced and led astray large numbers of people here in Ephesus(A) and in practically the whole province of Asia.(B) He says that gods made by human hands are no gods at all.(C)

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18 “What good is an idol carved by man,
    or a cast image that deceives you?
How foolish to trust in your own creation—
    a god that can’t even talk!
19 What sorrow awaits you who say to wooden idols,
    ‘Wake up and save us!’
To speechless stone images you say,
    ‘Rise up and teach us!’
    Can an idol tell you what to do?
They may be overlaid with gold and silver,
    but they are lifeless inside.
20 But the Lord is in his holy Temple.
    Let all the earth be silent before him.”

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18 “Of what value(A) is an idol(B) carved by a craftsman?
    Or an image(C) that teaches lies?
For the one who makes it trusts in his own creation;
    he makes idols that cannot speak.(D)
19 Woe to him who says to wood, ‘Come to life!’
    Or to lifeless stone, ‘Wake up!’(E)
Can it give guidance?
    It is covered with gold and silver;(F)
    there is no breath in it.”(G)

20 The Lord is in his holy temple;(H)
    let all the earth be silent(I) before him.

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20 The poor, deluded fool feeds on ashes.
    He trusts something that can’t help him at all.
Yet he cannot bring himself to ask,
    “Is this idol that I’m holding in my hand a lie?”

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20 Such a person feeds on ashes;(A) a deluded(B) heart misleads him;
    he cannot save himself, or say,
    “Is not this thing in my right hand a lie?(C)

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10 Who but a fool would make his own god—
    an idol that cannot help him one bit?

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10 Who shapes a god and casts an idol,(A)
    which can profit nothing?(B)

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19 What am I trying to say? Am I saying that food offered to idols has some significance, or that idols are real gods? 20 No, not at all. I am saying that these sacrifices are offered to demons, not to God. And I don’t want you to participate with demons.

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19 Do I mean then that food sacrificed to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything?(A) 20 No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons,(B) not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons.

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35 At last the mayor was able to quiet them down enough to speak. “Citizens of Ephesus,” he said. “Everyone knows that Ephesus is the official guardian of the temple of the great Artemis, whose image fell down to us from heaven.

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35 The city clerk quieted the crowd and said: “Fellow Ephesians,(A) doesn’t all the world know that the city of Ephesus is the guardian of the temple of the great Artemis and of her image, which fell from heaven?

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This calf you worship, O Israel,
    was crafted by your own hands!
It is not God!
    Therefore, it must be smashed to bits.

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    They are from Israel!
This calf—a metalworker has made it;
    it is not God.(A)
It will be broken in pieces,
    that calf(B) of Samaria.(C)

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