Wisdom 14:16-18

Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition

¹⁶ Then the ungodly custom, grown strong with time, was kept as a law,
and at the command of monarchs graven images were worshiped.
¹⁷ When men could not honor 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 honored,
so that by their zeal they might flatter the absent one as though present.
¹⁸ Then the ambition of the craftsman impelled
even those who did not know the king to intensify their worship.