Wisdom 14:16-18
New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised Catholic Edition
16 Then the ungodly custom, grown strong with time, was kept as a law,
and at the command of monarchs carved images were worshipped.
17 When people could not honour monarchs[a] in their presence, since they lived at a distance,
they imagined their appearance far away,
and made a visible image of the king whom they honoured,
so that by their zeal they might flatter the absent one as though present.
18 Then the ambition of the artisan impelled
even those who did not know the king to intensify their worship.
Footnotes
- Wisdom 14:17 Gk them
New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993, 1995 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.