26 Bible Verses about False Worship

So he took me to the inner courtyard of the Temple. There near the entrance of the sanctuary, between the altar and the porch, were about twenty-five men. They turned their backs to the sanctuary and were bowing low toward the east, worshiping the rising sun.

The houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will be defiled like Topheth. They burned sacrifices to the heavenly hosts and poured out drink offerings to other gods on the rooftops of all of their houses.'

He built the high places that Hezekiah his father destroyed. He made altars for Baal. Then he made an Asherah as Ahab, king of Israel, had done. Manasseh was a worshipper and servant of all the stars of heaven.

They broke all the laws of Jehovah their God. They made two metal bull-calves to worship. They also made an image of the goddess Asherah. Also they worshiped the stars and served the god Baal.

They will be spread out and exposed to the sun, the moon, and all the stars in the sky. These are the things that they had loved, served, gone after, sought, and worshiped. Their bones will not be gathered or buried, but they will become manure on the ground.

Burn the carved images of their gods with fire. Do not covet the silver or the gold that is on them. Do not take it for yourselves, or you will be snared by it. It is an abomination to Jehovah your God.

Jacob said to his family and those who were with him: Get rid of the foreign gods that you have. Wash yourselves until you are ritually clean. Change your clothes.

Do not make idols or set up statues, stone pillars, or carved stones to worship. I am Jehovah your God!

My little children guard (protect) yourselves from idols.

Do not make your own carved idols or statues that represent any creature in the sky, on the earth, or in the water.

They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, silver, copper, iron, wood, and of stone.

You know that you were of the nations, carried away and led by mute idols.

Has any nation ever exchanged gods? Their gods are not really gods. Yet my people have exchanged their glory for something that does not help them.

This is because all the gods of the nations are useless idols while Jehovah created the heavens.

Then the cities of Judah and those who live in Jerusalem will cry to the gods to whom they have been sacrificing. But these gods will never rescue them in a time of distress.

The rest of the men who were not killed by these plagues did not repent of the works of their hands. They did not stop worshipping demons, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk.

As an alternative, Jeroboam appointed his own priests for the illegal worship sites and the goat and calf statues he had made as idols.

The people must stop sacrificing to goat idols (demons) and chasing after them as though they were prostitutes. This is a long lasting law for the people and for future generations.

They sacrificed to demons that are not God. They served gods they did not know. These were new gods who came from nearby, gods your ancestors never worshiped.

They sacrificed their sons and daughters to demons.

A drought will diminish their water supply, and it will dry up. Babylon is a land of idols, statues that will go crazy with fear.

You lifted yourself up against the Lord of heaven. They have brought the vessels of his house before you and your lords, wives and concubines. They drank wine from them. You praise the gods of silver and gold, of copper, iron, wood, and stone, which you do not see, nor hear, nor know. You have not glorified the God whose hand holds your breath and life.

Being then the offspring of God, we should not think that the divine being is like gold, or silver, or stone, a device made by man's design or skill.

They are worthless, a work of mockery. In the time of their punishment they will perish.

What is an idol worth after the carver is done? It is merely a false god. Why trust a speechless image made by human hands from wood or metal?

Jehovah (YHWH) allowed Nebuchadnezzar to capture Jehoiakim king of Judah. Nebuchadnezzar carried part of the vessels of the house of God into the Plain of Shinar [in Babylon]. He brought the vessels into the treasure house of his god.

Jeroboam built worship sites on hilltops. He appointed men who were not descended from Levi to be priests.

There is danger that our trade will lose its good name. The temple of the great goddess Artemis (Diana) would then become useless. The goddess who is worshiped in all Asia would be robbed of her divine majesty.

They brought it into the temple of Dagon and placed it beside Dagon.

I hope Jehovah will forgive me when I accompany my king to the temple of Rimmon, the god of Syria, and worship him. Surely Jehovah will forgive me!

They broke all the laws of Jehovah their God. They made two metal bull-calves to worship. They also made an image of the goddess Asherah. Also they worshiped the stars and served the god Baal.

The people who live in the city of Samaria will be afraid and will mourn the loss of the gold bull at Bethaven. They and the priests who serve the idol will weep over it. They will wail when it is stripped of its golden splendor.

But Jehu did not keep himself from all the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, and the evil he made Israel do. The gold calves were still worshiped in Bethel and in Dan.

Now you plan to fight against the royal authority Jehovah gave to David's descendants. You have a huge army! You have with you the golden calves that Jeroboam made to be your gods.

As an alternative, Jeroboam appointed his own priests for the illegal worship sites and the goat and calf statues he had made as idols.

Once again the Israelites did evil against Jehovah by worshiping the Baals and the Astartes. They also worshiped the gods of Syria, of Sidon, of Moab, of Ammon, and of the Philistines. They abandoned Jehovah and stopped worshiping him.

The king made the illegal places of worship east of Jerusalem unclean. They were on the southern part of the Hill of Destruction. King Solomon of Israel built them for Astarte the disgusting goddess of the Sidonians. Also made unclean were references to Chemosh the disgusting god of Moab, and Milcom the disgusting god of the Ammonites.

I am going to do this because Solomon has rejected me and has worshiped foreign gods. Astarte, the goddess of Sidon; Chemosh, the god of Moab; and Molech, the god of Ammon. Solomon disobeyed me. He has done wrong! He has not obeyed my laws and commands as his father David did.

They forsook Jehovah and served Baal and Ashtaroth.

Samuel told the entire nation of Israel: If you return to Jehovah with all your hearts you must get rid of the foreign gods you have, including the statues of the goddess Astarte. You must dedicate your lives to Jehovah and serve him only. Then he will rescue you from the Philistines.

Then Michal took some idols, laid them in the bed, put a goat-hair blanket at its head, and covered the idols with a garment.

Rachel took the images. She put them in the camels' basket and was seated on them. Laban searched through the tent and did not find them.

When Laban went to shear his sheep, Rachel stole her father's household idols.

Micah had his own place of worship. He made some idols and an ephod, and appointed one of his sons as his priest.

The five men who had gone to spy on the country around Laish said to their companions: Did you know that here in one of these houses there is a wooden idol covered with silver? There are also other idols and an ephod. Consider what you should do.

He built an altar for Baal in the house of Baal that he built in Samaria.

So they took the bull that was given them, and made it ready. They cried out to Baal from morning till the middle of the day. They said: O Baal, give ear to us. But there was no voice and no answer. They jumped up and down before the altar they had made.

By this Jacob's guilt will be atoned for, and this will be the full fruitage of the removal of his sin. When he makes all the altar stones to be like chalk stones crushed to pieces, no Asherah poles or incense altars will be left standing.

a people who continually provoke me to my very face, offering sacrifices in gardens and burning incense on altars of brick.

The more altars that the people of Ephraim build to make offerings to pay for their sins, the more places they have for sinning.

So Israel joined itself to Baal of Peor. Jehovah was angry against Israel.

You saw how he killed everyone who worshiped the god Baal at Peor.

They joined in worshiping the god Baal while they were at Peor. They ate what was sacrificed to the dead.

I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness. I saw your forefathers as the earliest fruit on the fig tree in its first season. They came to Baal-peor and devoted themselves to shame. They became as detestable as that which they loved.

Do you remember our sin at Peor, when Jehovah punished his own people with an epidemic? We are still suffering because of that. Was that not enough sin?

After he worked on the gold with a tool, he made it into a statue of a calf. Then they said: Israel, this is your god, who brought you out of Egypt.

I saw that you had indeed sinned against Jehovah your God. You made yourselves an idol, cast in the shape of a calf. You turned aside quickly from the way Jehovah had commanded you.

Even when they made for themselves a bull out of metal, and said: 'This is your God who took you up out of Egypt, and had done so much to make you angry.'

At Mount Horeb they made a statue of a calf. They worshiped an idol made of metal.

They made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.

Never give your children as sacrifices to the god Molech by burning them alive. If you do, you are dishonoring the name of your God. I am Jehovah!

In the valley of Ben Hinnom they built worship sites for Baal to sacrifice their sons and daughters to Molech. I did not ask them to do this. It never entered my heart (mind). I did not make Judah sin.'

You have carried the tabernacle of your king and the shrine of your images, the star of your god, which you made for yourselves.

Yes, you took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan. You made figures to worship them. I will carry you away beyond Babylon.

Josiah also made Topheth in the valley of Ben Hinnom unclean so that people would never again sacrifice their sons or daughters by burning them to the god Molech.

That day people will throw their silver and gold idols, that they made for themselves to worship, to the moles and the bats.

Jehovah of Hosts declared: I will remove the names of the idols from the land! They will no longer be remembered. I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to leave the land.

They will not have regard for the altars, the work of their hands, and they will not look to what their own fingers have made, either the sacred poles (Asherim) or the altars of incense.

That is why the days are coming when I will punish Babylon's idols. The whole country will be put to shame, and all its soldiers will lie dead.

I will remove your graven images and your sacred pillars from you. You will no longer worship the work of your hands.

The king made the illegal places of worship east of Jerusalem unclean. They were on the southern part of the Hill of Destruction. King Solomon of Israel built them for Astarte the disgusting goddess of the Sidonians. Also made unclean were references to Chemosh the disgusting god of Moab, and Milcom the disgusting god of the Ammonites.

Moab, you trusted in your strength and your wealth, but now even you will be conquered. Your god Chemosh will go into exile, along with his princes and priests.

Are you going to try to take it back? You can keep whatever your god Chemosh has given you. But we are going to keep everything Jehovah, our God, has taken for us.

You Moabites are done for! Your god Chemosh deserted your people. They were captured, taken away by King Sihon the Amorite.

Claiming to be wise, they became fools. They changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things.

You know that you were of the nations, carried away and led by mute idols.

Concerning the eating of food offered in sacrifice to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no other God but one.

The Philistine kings met together to offer a great sacrifice to their god Dagon. They rejoiced and said: Our god gave us victory over our enemy Samson!

They brought it into the temple of Dagon and placed it beside Dagon.

They put his armor in the temple of their gods and hung up his head in the temple of Dagon.

Come here, you refugees from the nations. Ignorant people carry wooden idols and pray to gods that cannot save anyone.

They are like scarecrows in cucumber fields. They cannot speak. They must be carried, for they cannot walk! Do not fear them! For they can do no harm and they can do no good.

Even with these words they found it hard to keep the crowd from sacrificing to them.

A man named Demetrius, a silversmith made silver shrines of Diana. He brought a lot of business to the craftsmen.

The city recorder quieted the crowd. He said: You men of Ephesus, what man is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is temple-keeper of the great Artemis, and of the image which fell down from Jupiter?

When they heard this they were filled with anger. They shouted: Great is Artemis of the Ephesians.

The people shouted: It is the voice of a god, and not of a man.

Seeing what Paul did, the crowd lifted up their voice, saying in Lycaonian: The gods have come down to us, becoming like men.

The people were waiting for him to swell up or suddenly drop dead. They waited a long time and saw nothing unusual happen to him. They changed their minds and said he was a god.

Their idols are made of silver and gold. Human hands made them.

You will serve gods that are the work of men's hands. Made of wood and stone. They cannot see, hear, eat or smell.

A man too poor to present such an offering selects wood that will not rot. He looks for a skilled craftsman to set up an idol that will not topple.

Being then the offspring of God, we should not think that the divine being is like gold, or silver, or stone, a device made by man's design or skill.