23 Bible Verses about Idols

Most Relevant Verses

Isaiah 44:9-20

Those who make a pictured image are all of them as nothing, and the things of their desire will be of no profit to them: and their servants see not, and have no knowledge; so they will be put to shame. Whoever makes a god, makes nothing but a metal image in which there is no profit. Truly, all those who make use of secret arts will be put to shame, and their words of power are only words of men: let them all come forward together; they will all be in fear and be put to shame.read more.
The iron-worker is heating the metal in the fire, giving it form with his hammers, and working on it with his strong arm: then for need of food his strength gives way, and for need of water he becomes feeble. The woodworker is measuring out the wood with his line, marking it out with his pencil: after smoothing it with his plane, and making circles on it with his instrument, he gives it the form and glory of a man, so that it may be placed in the house. He has cedars cut down for himself, he takes an oak and lets it get strong among the trees of the wood; he has an ash-tree planted, and the rain gives it growth. Then it will be used to make a fire, so that a man may get warm; he has the oven heated with it and makes bread: he makes a god with it, to which he gives worship: he makes a pictured image out of it, and goes down on his face before it. With part of it he makes a fire, and on the fire he gets meat cooked and takes a full meal: he makes himself warm, and says, Aha! I am warm, I have seen the fire: And the rest of it he makes into a god, even his pictured image: he goes down on his face before it, giving worship to it, and making prayer to it, saying, Be my saviour; for you are my god. They have no knowledge or wisdom; for he has put a veil over their eyes, so that they may not see; and on their hearts, so that they may not give attention. And no one takes note, no one has enough knowledge or wisdom to say, I have put part of it in the fire, and made bread on it; I have had a meal of the flesh cooked with it: and am I now to make the rest of it into a false god? am I to go down on my face before a bit of wood? As for him whose food is the dust of a dead fire, he has been turned from the way by a twisted mind, so that he is unable to keep himself safe by saying, What I have here in my hand is false.

Deuteronomy 4:25

If, when you have had children and children's children, and have been living a long time in the land, you are turned to evil ways, and make an image of any sort, and do evil in the eyes of the Lord your God, moving him to wrath:

Leviticus 19:4

Do not go after false gods, and do not make metal images of gods for yourselves: I am the Lord your God.

Exodus 32:4

And he took the gold from them and, hammering it with an instrument, he made it into the metal image of a young ox: and they said, This is your god, O Israel, who took you out of the land of Egypt.

Deuteronomy 27:15

Cursed is the man who makes any image of wood or stone or metal, disgusting to the Lord, the work of man's hands, and puts it up in secret. And let all the people say, So be it.

Exodus 34:17

Make for yourselves no gods of metal.

From Thematic Bible


Brass » Articles made of » Idols

Daniel 5:4

They took their wine and gave praise to the gods of gold and silver, of brass and iron and wood and stone.

Revelation 9:20

And the rest of the people, who were not put to death by these evils, were not turned from the works of their hands, but went on giving worship to evil spirits, and images of gold and silver and brass and stone and wood which have no power of seeing or hearing or walking:

Brass » Made into » Idols

Daniel 5:4

They took their wine and gave praise to the gods of gold and silver, of brass and iron and wood and stone.

Revelation 9:20

And the rest of the people, who were not put to death by these evils, were not turned from the works of their hands, but went on giving worship to evil spirits, and images of gold and silver and brass and stone and wood which have no power of seeing or hearing or walking:

Gold » Was used for » Idols

Daniel 5:4

They took their wine and gave praise to the gods of gold and silver, of brass and iron and wood and stone.

Exodus 20:23

Gods of silver and gods of gold you are not to make for yourselves.

Psalm 115:4

Their images are silver and gold, the work of men's hands.

Idols » Vanity of

Jeremiah 50:38

A sword is on her waters, drying them up; for it is a land of images, and their minds are fixed on false gods.

Daniel 5:23

But you have been lifting yourself up against the Lord of heaven, and they have put the vessels of his house before you, and you and your lords, your wives and your women, have taken wine in them; and you have given praise to gods of silver and gold, of brass and iron and wood and stone, who are without the power of seeing or hearing, and without knowledge: and to the God in whose hand your breath is, and whose are all your ways, you have not given glory;

Acts 17:29

If then we are the offspring of God, it is not right for us to have the idea that God is like gold or silver or stone, formed by the art or design of man.

Jeremiah 10:15

They are nothing, a work of error: in the time of their punishment, destruction will overtake them.

Habakkuk 2:18

What profit is the pictured image to its maker? and as for the metal image, the false teacher, why does its maker put his faith in it, making false gods without a voice?

Idols » Put away

2 Kings 3:2

He did evil in the eyes of the Lord; but not like his father and his mother, for he put away the stone pillar of Baal which his father had made.

2 Chronicles 15:8

And Asa, hearing these words of Azariah, the son of Oded the prophet, took heart and put away all the disgusting things out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the towns which he had taken from the hill-country of Ephraim; and he made new again the altar of the Lord in front of the covered way of the Lord's house.

1 Samuel 7:3

Then Samuel said to all Israel, If with all your hearts you would come back to the Lord, then put away all the strange gods and the Astartes from among you, and let your hearts be turned to the Lord, and be servants to him only: and he will make you safe from the hands of the Philistines.

Joshua 24:14

So now, go in fear of the Lord, and be his servants with true hearts: put away the gods worshipped by your fathers across the River and in Egypt, and be servants of the Lord.

Iron » Made into » Idols

Daniel 5:4

They took their wine and gave praise to the gods of gold and silver, of brass and iron and wood and stone.

Daniel 5:23

But you have been lifting yourself up against the Lord of heaven, and they have put the vessels of his house before you, and you and your lords, your wives and your women, have taken wine in them; and you have given praise to gods of silver and gold, of brass and iron and wood and stone, who are without the power of seeing or hearing, and without knowledge: and to the God in whose hand your breath is, and whose are all your ways, you have not given glory;

Iron » First recorded use of » Articles made of » Idols

Daniel 5:4

They took their wine and gave praise to the gods of gold and silver, of brass and iron and wood and stone.

Daniel 5:23

But you have been lifting yourself up against the Lord of heaven, and they have put the vessels of his house before you, and you and your lords, your wives and your women, have taken wine in them; and you have given praise to gods of silver and gold, of brass and iron and wood and stone, who are without the power of seeing or hearing, and without knowledge: and to the God in whose hand your breath is, and whose are all your ways, you have not given glory;

Daniel 2:33

Its legs of iron, its feet were in part of iron and in part of potter's earth.

Protection » Not to be found in » Idols

Isaiah 46:7

They put him on their backs, and take him up, and put him in his fixed place, from which he may not be moved; if a man gives a cry for help to him, he is unable to give an answer, or get him out of his trouble.

Deuteronomy 32:37-39

And he will say, Where are their gods, the rock in which they put their faith? Who took the fat of their offerings, and the wine of their drink offering? Let them now come to your help, let them be your salvation. See now, I myself am he; there is no other god but me: giver of death and life, wounding and making well: and no one has power to make you free from my hand.

Sacrifice » Meat » Idols

Romans 14:14-23

I am conscious of this, and am certain in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean in itself; but for the man in whose opinion it is unclean, for him it is unclean. And if because of food your brother is troubled, then you are no longer going on in the way of love. Do not let your food be destruction to him for whom Christ went into death. Let it not be possible for men to say evil about your good: read more.
For the kingdom of God is not food and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. And he who in these things is Christ's servant, is pleasing to God and has the approval of men. So then, let us go after the things which make peace, and the things by which we may be a help to one another. Do not let the work of God come to nothing on account of food. All things are certainly clean; but it is evil for that man who by taking food makes it hard for another. It is better not to take meat or wine or to do anything which might be a cause of trouble to your brother. The faith which you have, have it to yourself before God. Happy is the man who is not judged by that to which he gives approval. But he who is in doubt is judged if he takes food, because he does it not in faith; and whatever is not of faith is sin.

1 Corinthians 8:1-13

Now about things offered to images: we all seem to ourselves to have knowledge. Knowledge gives pride, but love gives true strength. If anyone seems to himself to have knowledge, so far he has not the right sort of knowledge about anything; But if anyone has love for God, God has knowledge of him. read more.
So, then, as to the question of taking food offered to images, we are certain that an image is nothing in the world, and that there is no God but one. For though there are those who have the name of gods, in heaven or on earth, as there are a number of gods and a number of lords, There is for us only one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we are for him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we have our being through him. Still, all men have not that knowledge: but some, being used till now to the image, are conscious that they are taking food which has been offered to the image; and because they are not strong in the faith, their minds are troubled. But God's approval of us is not based on the food we take: if we do not take it we are no worse for it; and if we take it we are no better. But take care that this power of yours does not give cause for trouble to the feeble. For if a man sees you, who have knowledge, taking food as a guest in the house of an image, will it not give him, if he is feeble, the idea that he may take food offered to images? And so, through your knowledge, you are the cause of destruction to your brother, for whom Christ underwent death. And in this way, doing evil to the brothers, and causing trouble to those whose faith is feeble, you are sinning against Christ. For this reason, if food is a cause of trouble to my brother, I will give up taking meat for ever, so that I may not be a cause of trouble to my brother.

1 Corinthians 10:14-33

For this cause, my dear brothers, give no worship to false gods. What I am saying is for wise men, do you be the judges of it. The cup of blessing which we take, does it not give us a part in the blood of Christ? and is not the broken bread a taking part in the body of Christ? read more.
Because we, being a number of persons, are one bread, we are one body: for we all take part in the one bread. See Israel after the flesh: do not those who take as food the offerings of the altar take a part in the altar? Do I say, then, that what is offered to images is anything, or that the image is anything? What I say is that the things offered by the Gentiles are offered to evil spirits and not to God; and it is not my desire for you to have any part with evil spirits. It is not possible for you, at the same time, to take the cup of the Lord and the cup of evil spirits; you may not take part in the table of the Lord and the table of evil spirits. Or may we be the cause of envy to the Lord? are we stronger than he? We are free to do all things, but there are things which it is not wise to do. We are free to do all things, but not all things are for the common good. Let a man give attention not only to what is good for himself, but equally to his neighbour's good. Whatever meat may be had at the public market, take as food without question of right or wrong; For the earth is the Lord's and all things in it. If a Gentile makes a feast for you, and you are pleased to go as a guest, take whatever is put before you, without question of right or wrong. But if anyone says to you, This food has been used as an offering, do not take it, on account of him who said it, and on account of his sense of right and wrong: Right and wrong, I say, not for you, but for the other man; for the fact that I am free is not dependent on another man's sense of right or wrong. But if I give praise to God for the food which I take, let no man say evil of me for that reason. So then, if it is a question of food or drink, or any other thing, whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Give no cause of trouble to Jews, or to Greeks, or to the church of God. Even as I give way to all men in all things, not looking for profit for myself, but for the good of others, that they may get salvation.

Salvation » Sought in vain from » Idols

Isaiah 45:20

Come together, even come near, you nations who are still living: they have no knowledge who take up their image of wood, and make prayer to a god in whom is no salvation.

Jeremiah 2:28

But where are the gods you have made for yourselves? let them come, if they are able to give you salvation in the time of your trouble: for the number of your gods is as the number of your towns, O Judah.

Silver » Made into » Idols

Isaiah 2:20

In that day men will put their images of silver and of gold, which they made for worship, in the keeping of the beasts of the dark places;

Psalm 115:4

Their images are silver and gold, the work of men's hands.

Isaiah 30:22

And you will make unclean what is covering your pictured images of silver, and the plating of your images of gold: you will send them away as an unclean thing, saying, Be gone!

Silver » Idols

Hosea 13:2

And now their sins are increased; they have made themselves a metal image, false gods from their silver, after their designs, all of them the work of the metal-workers; they say of them, Let them give offerings, let men give kisses to the oxen.

Exodus 20:23

Gods of silver and gods of gold you are not to make for yourselves.

Isaiah 30:22

And you will make unclean what is covering your pictured images of silver, and the plating of your images of gold: you will send them away as an unclean thing, saying, Be gone!

Wicked, the, are compared to » Idols

Psalm 115:8

Those who make them are like them; and so is everyone who puts his faith in them.

Topics on Idols

Abandoning Idols

Deuteronomy 7:25

The images of their gods are to be burned with fire: have no desire for the gold and silver on them, and do not take it for yourselves, for it will be a danger to you: it is a thing disgusting to the Lord your God:

Bronze For Idols

2 Kings 18:4

He had the high places taken away, and the stone pillars broken to bits, and the Asherah cut down; and the brass snake which Moses had made was crushed to powder at his order, because in those days the children of Israel had offerings burned before it, and he gave it the name Nehushtan.

Carrying Idols

Isaiah 45:20

Come together, even come near, you nations who are still living: they have no knowledge who take up their image of wood, and make prayer to a god in whom is no salvation.

Food Offered To Idols

1 Corinthians 8:1-13

Now about things offered to images: we all seem to ourselves to have knowledge. Knowledge gives pride, but love gives true strength.

Idols Not Existing

1 Corinthians 8:4

So, then, as to the question of taking food offered to images, we are certain that an image is nothing in the world, and that there is no God but one.

Impotence Of Idols

Jeremiah 10:5

It is like a pillar in a garden of plants, and has no voice: it has to be lifted, for it has no power of walking. Have no fear of it; for it has no power of doing evil and it is not able to do any good.

Not Worshipping Idols

Ezekiel 18:15

Who has not taken the flesh with the blood for food, or given worship to the images of the children of Israel, and has not had connection with his neighbour's wife,

Trusting Idols

Psalm 115:8

Those who make them are like them; and so is everyone who puts his faith in them.

Useless Idols

1 Samuel 12:21

And do not go from the right way turning to those false gods in which there is no profit and no salvation, for they are false.

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Basic English, produced by Mr C. K. Ogden of the Orthological Institute - public domain