"When you pray, do not use a lot of meaningless words, as the pagans do, who think that their gods will hear them because their prayers are long.

Then let the prophets of Baal pray to their god, and I will pray to the LORD, and the one who answers by sending fire---he is God." The people shouted their approval.

Their gods are made of silver and gold, formed by human hands.

They have ears, but cannot hear, and noses, but cannot smell.

May all who made them and who trust in them become like the idols they have made.

The gods of the nations are made of silver and gold; they are formed by human hands.

They have ears, but cannot hear; they are not even able to breathe.

Praise the LORD, people of Israel; praise him, you priests of God!

One day when he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, two of his sons, Adrammelech and Sharezer, killed him with their swords and then escaped to the land of Ararat. Another of his sons, Esarhaddon, succeeded him as emperor.

The rest of the wood he makes into an idol, and then he bows down and worships it. He prays to it and says, "You are my god---save me!"

The LORD says, "Come together, people of the nations, all who survive the fall of the empire; present yourselves for the trial! The people who parade with their idols of wood and pray to gods that cannot save them--- those people know nothing at all!

Such idols are like scarecrows in a field of melons; they cannot speak; they have to be carried because they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of them: they can cause you no harm, and they can do you no good."

You acted against the Lord of heaven and brought in the cups and bowls taken from his Temple. You, your noblemen, your wives, and your concubines drank wine out of them and praised gods made of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone---gods that cannot see or hear and that do not know anything. But you did not honor the God who determines whether you live or die and who controls everything you do.

What's the use of an idol? It is only something that a human being has made, and it tells you nothing but lies. What good does it do for its maker to trust it---a god that can't even talk!

So then, about eating the food offered to idols: we know that an idol stands for something that does not really exist; we know that there is only the one God.

Do I imply, then, that an idol or the food offered to it really amounts to anything?

No! What I am saying is that what is sacrificed on pagan altars is offered to demons, not to God. And I do not want you to be partners with demons.

You know that while you were still heathen, you were led astray in many ways to the worship of lifeless idols.

I will punish all who worship like pagans and who steal and kill in order to fill their master's house with loot.