'Idols' in the Bible

Now Laban had gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel stole the idols that belonged to her father.

Now Rachel had taken the idols and put them in the saddle bag of the camel and sat on them. And Jacob searched the whole tent thoroughly but did not find them.

And she said to her father, "Let there not be anger in the eyes of my lord, for I am not able to rise before you, for the way of women [is] with me. And he searched carefully and did not find the idols.

You must not turn to idols, and you must not make for yourselves gods of cast metal; I [am] Yahweh your God.

" 'You shall not make for yourselves idols and divine images, and you shall not raise up stone pillars for yourselves, and you shall not put a sculptured stone in your land in order to worship before it, because I [am] Yahweh your God.

And I will destroy your high places, and I will cut down your incense altars, and I will place your corpses on your idols' corpses; and my inner self shall abhor you.

you will drive out the inhabitants of the land from your presence, and you will destroy all their idols and all the images of their molten idols, and you will demolish all their high places;

But this is what you must do to them: you shall break down their altars, and their stone pillars you shall smash, and their Asherah poles you shall hew down, and you shall burn their idols with fire.

And you have seen their detestable things and their idols of wood and stone, silver, and gold that [were] among them,

They annoyed me with [what is] not a god; they provoked me with their idols. So I will make them jealous with [those] not a people, with a foolish nation I will provoke them.

So they cut off his head and stripped off his armor. Then they sent [messengers] around in the land of [the] Philistines to proclaim [victory in] the temples of their idols and [to] the people.

They had left their idols there, so David and his men carried them away.

But you did more evil than all who were before you. You have gone and made for yourself other gods and molten idols to provoke me, but me you have {completely disregarded}.

He put away the male shrine prostitutes from the land, and he removed all of the idols that his ancestors made.

because of all the sins of Baasha and the sins of Elah his son which they committed and which they caused Israel to sin by provoking Yahweh the God of Israel with their idols.

He went in all the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat and in his sins that he caused Israel to sin by provoking Yahweh the God of Israel with their idols.

Also, he acted very abominably by going after idols like all the Amorites had done whom Yahweh had driven out from before the {Israelites}."

Only Jehu did not turn aside from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat [by] which he caused Israel to sin; [namely,] the calf-shaped idols of gold which [were in] Bethel and Dan.

They served idols which Yahweh had said to them, "You shall not do this thing!"

They rejected his statutes, his covenant which he {made} with their ancestors, and his warnings which he gave to them; and they went after the idols, became vain, and [went] after all the nations which [were] all around them, which Yahweh had commanded them not to do as they [did].

They abandoned all the commands of Yahweh their God and made for themselves two molten calf-shaped idols; they made a pole of Asherah worship and bowed down to the army of the heavens and served Baal.

So these nations were fearing Yahweh, but they were serving their idols, as were their children and their children's children; as their ancestors did, they [are] doing until this day.

"Because Manasseh the king of Judah committed these detestable things [and] did evil more than the Amorites did who were before him and caused even Judah to sin with his idols,

He walked in all of the way which his father had walked, and he served the idols which his father had served and bowed down to them.

Moreover, the mediums and the spiritists, the household gods and the idols, and all of the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, Josiah removed in order to establish the words of the law written on the scroll that Hilkiah the priest had found [in] the temple of Yahweh.

And they stripped him and took his head and his weapons, and they sent [them] throughout the land of the Philistines to bring news to their idols and the nation.

For all the gods of the nations [are] idols, but Yahweh made the heavens.

And he appointed his own priests for the high places and for the goat idols and for the bull calves that he had made.

So now you yourselves are considering [that you are] strong before the kingdom of Yahweh [which is] in the hand the sons of David, since you yourselves are a great multitude and you have bull calves of gold that Jeroboam has made for idols.

And when Asa heard these words, the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage and removed the vile idols from all the lands of Judah and Benjamin, and from the cities that he had taken in the hill country of Ephraim, and he repaired the altar of Yahweh that was in front of the portico of Yahweh.

And they forsook the house of Yahweh, the God of their ancestors and served the Asherahs and the idols. And wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem on account of this guilt.

But he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel and also made molten idols for the Baals.

And his prayer, and [how] he responded to him, all his sin and his unfaithful acts, and the places where he built the high places and set up Asherahs and idols before he humbled himself, behold, they are written in the words of the seers.

And he did what [was] evil in the eyes of Yahweh as Manasseh his father had done. And Amon sacrificed to all the idols that Manasseh his father had made, and he served them.

In the eighth year of his reign, while he [was] still a boy, he began to seek the God of David his ancestor. And in the twelfth year he began to cleanse Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the Asherahs, the idols, and the images.

And he destroyed before him the altars for the Baals, and he cut down the incense stands above them. And the Asherahs, the idols, and the images he smashed. And he ground [them] to powder and sprinkled [the dust] over the burial sites of those who sacrificed to them.

he broke down the altars and the Asherahs and crushed the idols, grinding [them] to dust, and he cut down all the incense stands in all the land of Israel. Then he returned to Jerusalem.

I hate those devoted to useless idols, but I trust Yahweh.

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

Let all who serve an image be ashamed, those who boast about idols. Worship him, all you gods.

and served their idols, which became a snare to them.

and they poured out innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and [so] the land was defiled with the blood.

Their idols [are] silver and gold, [the] work of human hands.

The idols of the nations [are] silver and gold, [the] work of the hands of humankind.

Its land is filled [with] idols; they bow down to the work of their hands, to what they made [with] their fingers.

And the idols shall pass away entirely,

On that day humanity will throw away its idols of silver and its idols of gold, which they made for it to worship, to the rodents and to the bats--

As my hand has reached to the kingdoms of the idols --and their images were {greater than those of} Jerusalem and Samaria--

shall I not do to Jerusalem and its idols what I have done to Samaria and her idols?"

An oracle of Egypt: Look! Yahweh [is] riding on a swift cloud and [is] coming [to] Egypt. And the idols of Egypt will tremble in front of him, and the heart of Egypt melts in his inner parts.

And the spirit of {the Egyptians} will be disturbed in his midst, and I will {confuse} his plans, and they will consult the idols and the spirits of the dead, and the ghosts and the spiritists.

And you will defile the plating of your silver idols and the covering of your gold image. You will scatter them like contaminated things; you will say to it, "Filth!"

For on that day, each one will reject his idols of silver and his idols of gold which your hands have made [in] sin for you.

I [am] Yahweh; that [is] my name, and I do not give my glory to another, nor my praise to the idols.

All of them are ashamed and indeed humiliated; [the] craftsmen of idols go together in insult.

Assemble and come; draw near together, survivors of the nations! They do not know, those who carry {their wooden idols} and pray to a god who cannot save.

Bel bows down; Nebo [is] stooping. Their idols are {on} animals and {on} cattle; your {cargo} is carried [as] a burden {on} weary [animals].

Look, the sound of the cry for help of the daughter of my people from a distant land, 'Is Yahweh not in Zion? Is her king not in her?' Why have they provoked me to anger with their images, with idols of a foreign land?"

{At the same time} they are stupid and foolish, [in the] instruction of idols, it [is] wood.

Are there [any] among the idols of the nation [who] cause rain to pour? Or can the heavens give showers? [Is] it not you, Yahweh our God? Therefore, we hope in you, for you do all these [things].

But my people have forgotten me. They make smoke offerings to the idols, and they caused them to stumble in their ways, [the] ancient ways, to go [into] {bypaths}, not [one that] is built up.

"Declare among the nations and proclaim, and lift up a banner. Proclaim, you must not conceal [it]. Say, 'Babylon is captured, Bel is ashamed, Merodach is filled with terror, her idols are ashamed, her idols are filled with terror.

Therefore {as surely as I live}, {declares} the Lord Yahweh, {Surely} because you have defiled my sanctuary with all of your vile idols and with all of your detestable things, {now indeed I} will reduce, and my eye will not take pity, and surely I will show no compassion.

and your altars will be desolate, and your incense altars will be broken, and I will throw down your slain ones {before} your idols,

and I will place the corpses of the children of Israel {before} their idols, and I will scatter your bones around your altars.

In all of your dwellings, the cities will be desolate and the high places will be ruined, so that your altars will be desolate and will suffer punishment. Your idols will be broken and will come to an end, and your incense altars will be cut down, and your works will be destroyed,

And your fugitives will remember me among the nations [to] which they were taken captive, that I was shattered by {their adulterous heart} which departed from me, and by {their adulterous eyes} which [went] after their idols, and they will feel loathing {for themselves}, for the evil that they did, for all of their detestable things.

And you will know that I [am] Yahweh {when their slain ones are in the midst of their idols} around their altars at every high hill, on the tops of all the mountains and under every green tree and under every leafy oak--the place [at] which they gave pleasing scent for all of their idols.

" 'And the beauty of its ornament {he made into a prideful thing} and made with it their detestable things and their vile idols; therefore I will make it into an impure thing for them.

And I came, and I saw, and look, all kinds of creatures and detestable beasts; [and] all of the idols of the house of Israel [were] carved on the wall {all around}.

And [when] they come there, then they will remove all of its vile idols and all of its detestable things from it.

"Son of man, these men took up their idols into their heart and {they placed before themselves} a stumbling block of their guilt. {Should I really let myself be consulted by them}?

Therefore speak with them, and you must say to them, 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Every person from the house of Israel who brings up his idols into his heart and {places before himself} a stumbling block of his guilt and [yet] he comes to the prophet, I Yahweh, I will respond to him through this act with [respect to] the multitude of his idols,

so that [I may] take hold of the house of Israel by their heart, [those] who are estranged from me, all of them, through their idols.'

Therefore say to the house of Israel, 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Return, and turn away from your idols and from all of your detestable things! Turn away your faces!" '

For {each person} from the house of Israel, and from the alien who dwells as an alien in Israel, who separates himself {from following me} and brings up his idols into his heart and {places before himself} a stumbling block of his guilt, and [yet] he comes to the prophet to consult him concerning me, I Yahweh will answer him myself.

Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Because of the pouring out of your shame and [because] your nakedness was revealed in your whoring with your lovers, and on account of all of the idols of your detestable things, and according to the blood of your children whom you gave to them,

and on the mountains he [does] not eat and he [does] not lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, and the wife of his neighbor he [does] not defile and he [does] not approach a woman of menstruation,

He oppresses [the] needy and [the] poor, [and] {he commits robbery}, [and] he [does] not return pledge for a loan, [and] he lifts his eyes to the idols [so] he does a detestable thing.

On the mountains he does not eat, and he does not lift [up] his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, [and] the wife of his neighbor he does not defile.

Then I said to them, '[Let] each [one] throw away the detestable things of his eyes, and you must not make yourselves unclean with the idols of Egypt! I [am] Yahweh your God.'

But they rebelled against me, and they were not willing to listen to me; each [one] {did not throw away} the detestable things of their eyes; and {they did not abandon} the idols of Egypt, and I decided to pour out my rage on them, to fully vent my anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt.

because they despised my judgments, and {they did not walk in my statutes}, and my Sabbaths they profaned, for their heart was going after their idols.

"And I said to their children in the desert, 'You must not go in the statutes of your parents; you must not keep their regulations, and you must not make yourself unclean with their idols.

because they did not [do] my regulations, and my statutes they despised, and my Sabbaths they profaned, and their eyes were after the idols of their ancestors.

Therefore thus say to the house of Israel, 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "In the way of your ancestors [will] you defile yourself, and after their vile idols [will] you prostitute [yourselves]?

And {when you lift up your gifts, sacrificing your children} through the fire, you are defiling yourself through all of your idols until {today}, and will I let myself be consulted by you, house of Israel?" ' {As I live}," {declares} the Lord Yahweh, "I will not let myself be consulted by you!

And you, house of Israel, thus says the Lord Yahweh: "[Let] each one go serve his idols [now] and after, if you [are] not listening to me, but {my holy name} you will not profane [any] longer with your gifts and with your idols.

And you must say, 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "A city pouring out blood in the midst of her; {its time has come}, and it made idols for itself, becoming unclean.

By your blood that you poured out you have become guilty, and by your idols that you made you have become unclean, and you have brought your days near, {and your appointed years have come}. Therefore I have made you a disgrace for the nations and a laughingstock to all of the countries.

And she bestowed her fornication on them, [on] the choice [ones] of the {Assyrians}, all of them, and with every one [after] which she lusted; with all of their idols she defiled herself.

These [things] [are] accomplished against you since you prostituted yourself after the nations, [and] on account of that, you defiled yourself by their idols.

For they committed adultery, and blood [is] on their hands, and they committed adultery with their idols, and even their children that they had borne for me--they sacrificed them as food!

and when they slaughtered their children for their idols, they came to my sanctuary on that day to profane it. And look, {this is what they did in my house}!

And they will repay your obscene conduct upon you, and the guilt of your idols you will bear, and you will know that I [am] the Lord Yahweh.

Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "And I will destroy [the] idols, and I will put an end to [the] worthless idols from Memphis. And there will {no longer be} a prince from the land of Egypt, and I will put fear in the land of Egypt.

Therefore say to them, 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "You eat blood [in your meat], and you raise your eyes to your idols and you pour out blood, and [yet] you want to take possession of the land?

And I poured out my rage on them for the blood that they poured on the land and for their idols [with which] they defiled it.

And I will sprinkle on you pure water, and you will be clean from all of your uncleanness, and I will cleanse you from all of your idols.

And they will not defile themselves again with their idols and with vile idols and with all of their transgressions, and I will save them from all of their apostasy {by which they sinned}, and I will cleanse them and they will be for me as a people and I, I will be for them as God.