Everyone who worships idols is put to shame; all the gods bow down before the LORD.

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.

There you will serve gods made by human hands, gods of wood and stone, gods that cannot see or hear, eat or smell.

He is not like an idol that workers make, that metalworkers cover with gold and set in a base of silver.

Anyone who cannot afford silver or gold chooses wood that will not rot. He finds a skillful worker to make an image that won't fall down.

All who trust in idols, who call images their gods, will be humiliated and disgraced."

"This is the end for Babylon's gods! Bel and Nebo once were worshiped, but now they are loaded on donkeys, a burden for the backs of tired animals.

The idols cannot save themselves; they are captured and carried away. This is the end for Babylon's gods!

People open their purses and pour out gold; they weigh out silver on the scales. They hire a goldsmith to make a god; then they bow down and worship it.

They lift it to their shoulders and carry it; they put it in place, and there it stands, unable to move from where it is. If any pray to it, it cannot answer or save them from disaster.

The religion of these people is worthless. A tree is cut down in the forest; it is carved by the tools of the woodworker

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."

An Israelite craftsman made the idol, and it is not a god at all! The gold bull worshiped in Samaria will be smashed to pieces!

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!

The LORD is in his holy Temple; let everyone on earth be silent in his presence.

Now, you can see and hear for yourselves what this fellow Paul is doing. He says that hand-made gods are not gods at all, and he has succeeded in convincing many people, both here in Ephesus and in nearly the whole province of Asia.

At last the city clerk was able to calm the crowd. "Fellow Ephesians!" he said. "Everyone knows that the city of Ephesus is the keeper of the temple of the great Artemis and of the sacred stone that fell down from heaven.

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.