¹⁹ For what can be ^(A)known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. ²⁰ For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, ^(B)have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world,^[a] in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. ²¹ For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they ^(C)became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. ^22 (D)Claiming to be wise, they became fools, ²³ and ^(E)exchanged the glory of ^(F)the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

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.