26 Bible Verses about False Worship

Most Relevant Verses

Leviticus 10:1-2

Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer, and put fire in it, and laid incense on it, and offered strange fire before Yahweh, which he had not commanded them. And fire came forth from before Yahweh, and devoured them, and they died before Yahweh.

Numbers 3:2-4

These are the names of the sons of Aaron: Nadab the firstborn, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. These are the names of the sons of Aaron, the priests who were anointed, whom he consecrated to minister in the priest's office. Nadab and Abihu died before Yahweh, when they offered strange fire before Yahweh, in the wilderness of Sinai, and they had no children. Eleazar and Ithamar ministered in the priest's office in the presence of Aaron their father.

1 Samuel 15:1-23

Samuel said to Saul, "Yahweh sent me to anoint you to be king over his people, over Israel. Now therefore listen to the voice of the words of Yahweh. Thus says Yahweh of Armies, 'I have marked that which Amalek did to Israel, how he set himself against him in the way, when he came up out of Egypt. Now go and strike Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and don't spare them; but kill both man and woman, infant and nursing baby, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.'"read more.
Saul summoned the people, and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand footmen, and ten thousand men of Judah. Saul came to the city of Amalek, and laid wait in the valley. Saul said to the Kenites, "Go, depart, go down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them; for you showed kindness to all the children of Israel, when they came up out of Egypt." So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites. Saul struck the Amalekites, from Havilah as you go to Shur, that is before Egypt. He took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the cattle, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and wouldn't utterly destroy them: but everything that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly. Then the word of Yahweh came to Samuel, saying, "It grieves me that I have set up Saul to be king; for he is turned back from following me, and has not performed my commandments." Samuel was angry; and he cried to Yahweh all night. Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning; and it was told Samuel, saying, "Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he set up a monument for himself, and turned, and passed on, and went down to Gilgal." Samuel came to Saul; and Saul said to him, "You are blessed by Yahweh! I have performed the commandment of Yahweh." Samuel said, "Then what does this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the cattle which I hear mean?" Saul said, "They have brought them from the Amalekites; for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the cattle, to sacrifice to Yahweh your God. We have utterly destroyed the rest." Then Samuel said to Saul, "Stay, and I will tell you what Yahweh has said to me last night." He said to him, "Say on." Samuel said, "Though you were little in your own sight, weren't you made the head of the tribes of Israel? Yahweh anointed you king over Israel; and Yahweh sent you on a journey, and said, 'Go, and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.' Why then didn't you obey the voice of Yahweh, but took the spoils, and did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh?" Saul said to Samuel, "But I have obeyed the voice of Yahweh, and have gone the way which Yahweh sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. But the people took of the spoil, sheep and cattle, the chief of the devoted things, to sacrifice to Yahweh your God in Gilgal." Samuel said, "Has Yahweh as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of Yahweh? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as idolatry and teraphim. Because you have rejected the word of Yahweh, he has also rejected you from being king."

2 Kings 17:33

They feared Yahweh, and served their own gods, after the ways of the nations from among whom they had been carried away.

1 Samuel 13:11-14

Samuel said, "What have you done?" Saul said, "Because I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that you didn't come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines assembled themselves together at Michmash; therefore I said, 'Now the Philistines will come down on me to Gilgal, and I haven't entreated the favor of Yahweh.' I forced myself therefore, and offered the burnt offering." Samuel said to Saul, "You have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of Yahweh your God, which he commanded you; for now Yahweh would have established your kingdom on Israel forever.read more.
But now your kingdom shall not continue. Yahweh has sought for himself a man after his own heart, and Yahweh has appointed him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept that which Yahweh commanded you."

2 Chronicles 26:19-20

Then Uzziah was angry; and he had a censer in his hand to burn incense; and while he was angry with the priests, the leprosy broke forth in his forehead before the priests in the house of Yahweh, beside the altar of incense. Azariah the chief priest, and all the priests, looked on him, and behold, he was leprous in his forehead, and they thrust him out quickly from there; yes, himself hurried also to go out, because Yahweh had struck him.

Matthew 15:8-9

'These people draw near to me with their mouth, and honor me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. And in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrine rules made by men.'"

Mark 7:6-7

He answered them, "Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, 'This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. But in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'

Matthew 6:5

"When you pray, you shall not be as the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Most certainly, I tell you, they have received their reward.

Luke 18:10-14

"Two men went up into the temple to pray; one was a Pharisee, and the other was a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed to himself like this: 'God, I thank you, that I am not like the rest of men, extortioners, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I get.'read more.
But the tax collector, standing far away, wouldn't even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner!' I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted."

Acts 17:22-23

Paul stood in the middle of the Areopagus, and said, "You men of Athens, I perceive that you are very religious in all things. For as I passed along, and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: 'TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.' What therefore you worship in ignorance, this I announce to you.

2 Samuel 24:24

The king said to Araunah, "No; but I will most certainly buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to Yahweh my God which cost me nothing." So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.

Mark 12:41-44

Jesus sat down opposite the treasury, and saw how the multitude cast money into the treasury. Many who were rich cast in much. A poor widow came, and she cast in two small brass coins, which equal a quadrans coin. He called his disciples to himself, and said to them, "Most certainly I tell you, this poor widow gave more than all those who are giving into the treasury,read more.
for they all gave out of their abundance, but she, out of her poverty, gave all that she had to live on."

John 4:23-24

But the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such to be his worshippers. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."

Isaiah 29:23

But when he sees his children, the work of my hands, in the midst of him, they will sanctify my name. Yes, they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and will stand in awe of the God of Israel.

Bible Theasaurus

From Thematic Bible


false Worship » Other objects of worship » Heavenly bodies

Ezekiel 8:16

He brought me into the inner court of Yahweh's house; and see, at the door of the temple of Yahweh, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men, with their backs toward the temple of Yahweh, and their faces toward the east; and they were worshipping the sun toward the east.

Jeremiah 19:13

and the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, which are defiled, shall be as the place of Topheth, even all the houses on whose roofs they have burned incense to all the army of the sky, and have poured out drink offerings to other gods.

2 Kings 21:3

For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and he reared up altars for Baal, and made an Asherah, as did Ahab king of Israel, and worshiped all the army of the sky, and served them.

2 Kings 17:16

They forsook all the commandments of Yahweh their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made an Asherah, and worshiped all the army of the sky, and served Baal.

Jeremiah 8:2

and they shall spread them before the sun, and the moon, and all the army of the sky, which they have loved, and which they have served, and after which they have walked, and which they have sought, and which they have worshiped: they shall not be gathered, nor be buried, they shall be for dung on the surface of the earth.

false Worship » Idolatry » Forbidden

Deuteronomy 7:25

You shall burn the engraved images of their gods with fire. You shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them, nor take it for yourself, lest you be snared in it; for it is an abomination to Yahweh your God.

Genesis 35:2

Then Jacob said to his household, and to all who were with him, "Put away the foreign gods that are among you, purify yourselves, change your garments.

Leviticus 26:1

"'You shall make for yourselves no idols, neither shall you raise up an engraved image or a pillar, neither shall you place any figured stone in your land, to bow down to it: for I am Yahweh your God.

Exodus 20:4

"You shall not make for yourselves an idol, nor any image of anything that is in the heavens above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:

false Worship » False gods and Goddesses » General references to

Daniel 5:4

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

1 Corinthians 12:2

You know that when you were heathen, you were led away to those mute idols, however you might be led.

Jeremiah 2:11

Has a nation changed [its] gods, which really are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit.

1 Chronicles 16:26

For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but Yahweh made the heavens.

Jeremiah 11:12

Then shall the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem go and cry to the gods to which they offer incense: but they will not save them at all in the time of their trouble.

false Worship » Other objects of worship » Devils worshipped

Revelation 9:20

The rest of mankind, who were not killed with these plagues, didn't repent of the works of their hands, that they wouldn't worship demons, and the idols of gold, and of silver, and of brass, and of stone, and of wood; which can neither see, nor hear, nor walk.

2 Chronicles 11:15

and he appointed him priests for the high places, and for the male goats, and for the calves which he had made.

Leviticus 17:7

They shall no more sacrifice their sacrifices to the goat idols, after which they play the prostitute. This shall be a statute forever to them throughout their generations.'

Deuteronomy 32:17

They sacrificed to demons, [which were] no God, to gods that they didn't know, to new [gods] that came up of late, which your fathers didn't dread.

Psalm 106:37

Yes, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons.

false Worship » Idols characterized, as » Vanity of

Jeremiah 50:38

A drought is on her waters, and they shall be dried up; for it is a land of engraved images, and they are mad over idols.

Daniel 5:23

but have lifted up yourself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his house before you, and you and your lords, your wives and your concubines, have drunk wine from them; and you have praised the gods of silver and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which don't see, nor hear, nor know; and the God in whose hand your breath is, and whose are all your ways, you have not glorified.

Acts 17:29

Being then the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold, or silver, or stone, engraved by art and design of man.

Jeremiah 10:15

They are vanity, a work of delusion: in the time of their visitation they shall perish.

Habakkuk 2:18

"What value does the engraved image have, that its maker has engraved it; the molten image, even the teacher of lies, that he who fashions its form trusts in it, to make mute idols?

false Worship » Brazen serpent places devoted to idolatry » Idolatrous temples

Daniel 1:2

The Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with part of the vessels of the house of God; and he carried them into the land of Shinar to the house of his god: and he brought the vessels into the treasure house of his god.

1 Kings 12:31

He made houses of high places, and made priests from among all the people, who were not of the sons of Levi.

Acts 19:27

Not only is there danger that this our trade come into disrepute, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be counted as nothing, and her majesty destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worships."

1 Samuel 5:2

The Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it into the house of Dagon, and set it by Dagon.

2 Kings 5:18

In this thing may Yahweh pardon your servan: when my master goes into the house of Rimmon to worship there, and he leans on my hand, and I bow myself in the house of Rimmon. When I bow myself in the house of Rimmon, may Yahweh pardon your servant in this thing."

false Worship » Other objects of worship » The golden calves of jeroboam, set up in dan and bethel

2 Kings 17:16

They forsook all the commandments of Yahweh their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made an Asherah, and worshiped all the army of the sky, and served Baal.

Hosea 10:5

The inhabitants of Samaria will be in terror for the calves of Beth Aven; for its people will mourn over it, Along with its priests who rejoiced over it, for its glory, because it has departed from it.

2 Kings 10:29

However from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin, Jehu didn't depart from after them, [to wit], the golden calves that were in Bethel, and that were in Dan.

2 Chronicles 13:8

"Now you think to withstand the kingdom of Yahweh in the hand of the sons of David; and you are a great multitude, and there are with you the golden calves which Jeroboam made you for gods.

2 Chronicles 11:15

and he appointed him priests for the high places, and for the male goats, and for the calves which he had made.

More verses: 1 Kings 12:28

false Worship » gods, false » Images » Names of » Ashtaroth » Ashtaroth or ashtoreth, a Goddess of the phoenicians

Judges 10:6

The children of Israel again did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, and served the Baals, and the Ashtaroth, and the gods of Syria, and the gods of Sidon, and the gods of Moab, and the gods of the children of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines; and they forsook Yahweh, and didn't serve him.

2 Kings 23:13

The high places that were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the mountain of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon, did the king defile.

1 Kings 11:33

because that they have forsaken me, and have worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of Moab, and Milcom the god of the children of Ammon. They have not walked in my ways, to do that which is right in my eyes, and [to keep] my statutes and my ordinances, as David his father did.

Judges 2:13

They forsook Yahweh, and served Baal and the Ashtaroth.

1 Samuel 7:3

Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying, "If you do return to Yahweh with all your heart, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you, and direct your hearts to Yahweh, and serve him only; and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines."

More verses: 1 Samuel 31:10

false Worship » Other objects of worship » Teraphim, images, household gods

1 Samuel 19:13

Michal took the teraphim, and laid it in the bed, and put a pillow of goats' [hair] at its head, and covered it with the clothes.

Genesis 31:34

Now Rachel had taken the teraphim, put them in the camel's saddle, and sat on them. Laban felt about all the tent, but didn't find them.

Genesis 31:19

Now Laban had gone to shear his sheep: and Rachel stole the teraphim that were her father's.

Judges 17:5

The man Micah had a house of gods, and he made an ephod, and teraphim, and consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest.

Judges 18:14

Then the five men who went to spy out the country of Laish answered, and said to their brothers, "Do you know that there is in these houses an ephod, and teraphim, and an engraved image, and a molten image? Now therefore consider what you have to do."

More verses: Hosea 3:4

false Worship » Brazen serpent places devoted to idolatry » Idolatrous altars

1 Kings 16:32

He reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria.

1 Kings 18:26

They took the bull which was given them, and they dressed it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, Baal, hear us. But there was no voice, nor any who answered. They leaped about the altar which was made.

Isaiah 27:9

Therefore, by this the iniquity of Jacob will be forgiven, and this is all the fruit of taking away his sin: that he makes all the stones of the altar as chalk stones that are beaten in pieces, so that the Asherim and the incense altars shall rise no more.

Isaiah 65:3

a people who provoke me to my face continually, sacrificing in gardens, and burning incense on bricks;

Hosea 8:11

Because Ephraim has multiplied altars for sinning, they became for him altars for sinning.

More verses: Acts 17:23

false Worship » gods, false » Images » Names of » Baal-peor » Baal-peor, a God of the moabites

Numbers 25:3

Israel joined himself to Baal Peor: and the anger of Yahweh was kindled against Israel.

Deuteronomy 4:3

Your eyes have seen what Yahweh did because of Baal Peor; for all the men who followed Baal Peor, Yahweh your God has destroyed them from the midst of you.

Hosea 9:10

I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness. I saw your fathers as the first ripe in the fig tree at its first season; but they came to Baal Peor, and consecrated themselves to the shameful thing, and became abominable like that which they loved.

Joshua 22:17

Is the iniquity of Peor too little for us, from which we have not cleansed ourselves to this day, although there came a plague on the congregation of Yahweh,

false Worship » Other objects of worship » The golden calf made by aaron

Exodus 32:4

He received what they handed him, and fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made it a molten calf; and they said, "These are your gods, Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt."

Deuteronomy 9:16

I looked, and behold, you had sinned against Yahweh your God; you had made yourselves a molten calf: you had turned aside quickly out of the way which Yahweh had commanded you.

Nehemiah 9:18

Yes, when they had made them a molten calf, and said, 'This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt,' and had committed awful blasphemies;

Psalm 106:19

They made a calf in Horeb, and worshiped a molten image.

Acts 7:41

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

false Worship » gods, false » Images » Names of » Molech, moloch, or milcom, a God of the ammonites

Jeremiah 32:35

They built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through [the fire] to Molech; which I didn't command them, neither did it come into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.

Amos 5:26

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

Acts 7:43

You took up the tabernacle of Moloch, the star of your god Rephan, the figures which you made to worship. I will carry you away beyond Babylon.'

2 Kings 23:10

He defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech.

false Worship » Idolatry » Prophecies concerning the overthrow of

Isaiah 2:20

In that day, men shall cast away their idols of silver, and their idols of gold, which have been made for themselves to worship, to the moles and to the bats;

Zechariah 13:2

It will come to pass in that day, says Yahweh of Armies, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they will be remembered no more. I will also cause the prophets and the spirit of impurity to pass out of the land.

Isaiah 17:8

They will not look to the altars, the work of their hands; neither shall they respect that which their fingers have made, either the Asherim, or the incense altars.

Jeremiah 51:47

Therefore, behold, the days come, that I will execute judgment on the engraved images of Babylon; and her whole land shall be confounded; and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her.

Micah 5:13

I will cut off your engraved images and your pillars out of your midst; and you shall no more worship the work of your hands.

false Worship » gods, false » Images » Names of » Chemosh » Chemosh, a God of the moabites

2 Kings 23:13

The high places that were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the mountain of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon, did the king defile.

Jeremiah 48:7

For, because you have trusted in your works and in your treasures, you also shall be taken: and Chemosh shall go forth into captivity, his priests and his princes together.

Judges 11:24

Won't you possess that which Chemosh your god gives you to possess? So whoever Yahweh our God has dispossessed from before us, them will we possess.

Numbers 21:29

Woe to you, Moab! You are undone, people of Chemosh! He has given his sons as fugitives, and his daughters into captivity, to Sihon king of the Amorites.

false Worship » Idols characterized, as » Degrading

Romans 1:22-23

Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and traded the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of an image of corruptible man, and of birds, and four-footed animals, and creeping things.

1 Corinthians 12:2

You know that when you were heathen, you were led away to those mute idols, however you might be led.

1 Corinthians 8:4

Therefore concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that no idol is anything in the world, and that there is no other God but one.

false Worship » gods, false » Images » Names of » Dagon » Dagon, a God of the philistines

Judges 16:23

The lords of the Philistines gathered them together to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god, and to rejoice; for they said, "Our god has delivered Samson our enemy into our hand."

1 Samuel 5:2

The Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it into the house of Dagon, and set it by Dagon.

1 Chronicles 10:10

They put his armor in the house of their gods, and fastened his head in the house of Dagon.

false Worship » Idols characterized, as » Helpless

Isaiah 45:20

"Assemble yourselves and come. Draw near together, you who have escaped from the nations. Those have no knowledge who carry the wood of their engraved image, and pray to a god that can't save.

Jeremiah 10:5

They are like a palm tree, of turned work, and don't speak: they must be carried, because they can't go. Don't be afraid of them; for they can't do evil, neither is it in them to do good."

Acts 14:18

Even saying these things, they hardly stopped the multitudes from making a sacrifice to them.

false Worship » gods, false » Images » Names of » Diana » Diana, a Goddess of the ephesians

Acts 19:24

For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little business to the craftsmen,

Acts 19:35

When the town clerk had quieted the multitude, he said, "You men of Ephesus, what man is there who doesn't know that the city of the Ephesians is temple keeper of the great goddess Artemis, and of the image which fell down from Zeus?

Acts 19:28

When they heard this they were filled with anger, and cried out, saying, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!"

false Worship » Other objects of worship » Men deified and worshipped

Acts 12:22

The people shouted, "The voice of a god, and not of a man!"

Acts 14:11

When the multitude saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voice, saying in the language of Lycaonia, "The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!"

Acts 28:6

But they expected that he would have swollen or fallen down dead suddenly, but when they watched for a long time and saw nothing bad happen to him, they changed their minds, and said that he was a god.

false Worship » Idols characterized, as » Insentiate

Psalm 115:4

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

false Worship » Idols characterized, as » Perishable

Isaiah 40:20

He who is too impoverished for such an offering chooses a tree that will not rot. He seeks a skillful workman to set up an engraved image for him that will not be moved.

false Worship » Idols characterized, as » Unworthy of worship of intelligent beings

Acts 17:29

Being then the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold, or silver, or stone, engraved by art and design of man.

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