Thematic Bible: What is not profitable


Thematic Bible




What use is a carved idol after its craftsman carves it? It is [only] a cast image, a teacher of lies. For the one who crafts its shape trusts in it and makes idols that cannot speak. Woe to him who says to wood: Wake up! or to mute stone: Come alive! Can it teach? Look! It may be plated with gold and silver, yet there is no breath in it at all.


Has a nation ever exchanged its gods?
(But they were not gods!)
Yet My people have exchanged their Glory
for useless idols.



All who make idols are nothing, and what they treasure does not profit. Their witnesses do not see or know [anything], so they will be put to shame. Who makes a god or casts a metal image for no profit?

But come here, you sons of a sorceress, offspring of an adulterer and a prostitute! Who is it you are mocking? Who is it you are opening your mouth and sticking out your tongue at? Isn't it you, you rebellious children, you race of liars, who burn with lust among the oaks, under every flourishing tree, who slaughter children in the wadis below the clefts of the rocks? read more.
Your portion is among the smooth [stones] of the wadi; indeed, they are your lot. You have even poured out a drink offering to them; you have offered a grain offering; should I be satisfied with these? You have placed your bed on a high and lofty mountain; you also went up there to offer sacrifice. You have set up your memorial behind the door and doorpost. For away from Me, you stripped, went up, and made your bed wide, and you have made a bargain for yourself with them. You have loved their bed; you have gazed on their genitals. You went to the king with oil and multiplied your perfumes; you sent your envoys far away and sent [them] down even to Sheol. You became weary on your many journeys, [but] you did not say, "I give up!" You found a renewal of your strength; therefore you did not grow weak. Who was it you dreaded and feared, so that you lied and didn't remember Me or take it to heart? Have I not kept silent for such a long time and you do not fear Me? I will expose your righteousness, and your works-they will not profit you.

Lord, my strength and my stronghold, my refuge in a time of distress, the nations will come to You from the ends of the earth, and they will say, "Our fathers inherited only lies, worthless idols of no benefit at all." Can one make gods for himself? But they are not gods.

For what does it benefit a man to gain the whole world yet lose his life? What can a man give in exchange for his life?


Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers.