'Idol worship' in the Bible
For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idol-worship. Because you have rejected the Word of Jehovah, He has also rejected you from being king!
For they provoked Him to [righteous] anger with their high places [devoted to idol worship]And moved Him to jealousy with their carved images [by denying Him the love, worship, and obedience that is rightfully and uniquely His].
But they put their detestable things (idols) in the house which is called by My Name, to defile it.
that you built yourself an altar for prostitution and made yourself a high place [for ritual prostitution] in every square [of Jerusalem].
At the beginning of every street you built your high place and made your beauty repulsive; and you offered your body to every passer-by and multiplied your obscene immorality.
For when I had brought them into the land which I swore to give to them, they saw every high hill and every dark and leafy tree [as a place for idol worship], and there they offered their sacrifices and there they presented their offering that provoked My anger; there also they made their sweet-smelling aroma and there poured out their drink offerings.
They will repay you for your obscene conduct, and you will be punished for idol worship. Then you will know that I am the sovereign Lord."
Then the Lord said to me, “Go again, love a woman (Gomer) who is beloved by her husband and yet is an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love the raisin cakes [used in the feasts in pagan worship].”
“Come to Bethel [where the golden calf is] and transgress;In Gilgal [where idols are worshiped] multiply transgression;Bring your sacrifices every morning,Your tithes every three days!
All this is because of the rebellion and apostasy of JacobAnd for the sins of the house of Israel (the Northern Kingdom).What is the rebellion and apostasy of Jacob?Is it not [the abandonment of God in order to worship the idols of] Samaria?What are the high places [of idolatry] in Judah (the Southern Kingdom)?Are they not Jerusalem [the capital and center of corruption]?
"Gentlemen, why are you doing these things? [Do you not know that] we are also human beings with the same kind of feelings that you have? And we are just bringing you the good news that you should turn away from these useless things [i.e., idol worship] and [turn] to the living God, who created the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them.
but to write [urging] them to avoid [eating] what is contaminated by [its association with] idol worship, from sexual immorality, from [eating] strangled animals and from [drinking] blood.
And Paul waiting for them among the Athenians, his spirit was excited in him, seeing the city being addicted to idol worship.
And now you have seen and heard, not only here in Ephesus, but throughout almost all of [the province of] Asia, that this Paul has been convincing people, [even] to the point of turning many away [from idol worship]. [He is] saying that hand-made gods [like we make] are not real [gods at all].
But what I meant was that you were not to associate with any one bearing the name of "brother," if he was addicted to fornication or avarice or idol-worship or abusive language or hard-drinking or greed of gain. With such a man you ought not even to eat.
For if someone sees you, a person having knowledge, eating in an idol’s temple, then if he is weak, will he not be encouraged to eat things sacrificed to idols [and violate his own convictions]?
Therefore, my dearly loved ones, run away from idol worship.
Now you know full well the doings of our lower natures. Fornication, impurity, indecency, idol-worship, sorcery;
idol-worship, sorcery, quarrels, party-spirit, jealousy, passionate anger, intrigues, factions, sectarianism,
For the time past of life may suffice us to have worked the will of the Gentiles, when we spent our life in lasciviousness, lusts, hard drinking, revelry, banqueting, and abominable idol worship.