'Idols' in the Bible

When Laban had gone to shear his flock, then Rachel stole the household idols that were her father’s.

Now Rachel had taken the household idols and put them in the camel’s saddle, and she sat on them. And Laban felt through all the tent but did not find them.

She said to her father, “Let not my lord be angry that I cannot rise before you, for the manner of women is upon me.” So he searched but did not find the household idols.

Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves molten gods; I am the Lord your God.

‘You shall not make for yourselves idols, nor shall you set up for yourselves an image or a sacred pillar, nor shall you place a figured stone in your land to bow down to it; for I am the Lord your God.

I then will destroy your high places, and cut down your incense altars, and heap your remains on the remains of your idols, for My soul shall abhor you.

moreover, you have seen their abominations and their idols of wood, stone, silver, and gold, which they had with them);

‘They have made Me jealous with what is not God;They have provoked Me to anger with their idols.So I will make them jealous with those who are not a people;I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation,

But he himself turned back from the idols which were at Gilgal, and said, “I have a secret message for you, O king.” And he said, “Keep silence.” And all who attended him left him.

Now Ehud escaped while they were delaying, and he passed by the idols and escaped to Seirah.

And the man Micah had a shrine and he made an ephod and household idols and consecrated one of his sons, that he might become his priest.

Then the five men who went to spy out the country of Laish said to their kinsmen, “Do you know that there are in these houses an ephod and household idols and a graven image and a molten image? Now therefore, consider what you should do.”

Now the five men who went to spy out the land went up and entered there, and took the graven image and the ephod and household idols and the molten image, while the priest stood by the entrance of the gate with the six hundred men armed with weapons of war.

When these went into Micah’s house and took the graven image, the ephod and household idols and the molten image, the priest said to them, “What are you doing?”

The priest’s heart was glad, and he took the ephod and household idols and the graven image and went among the people.

They cut off his head and stripped off his weapons, and sent them throughout the land of the Philistines, to carry the good news to the house of their idols and to the people.

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

He also put away the male cult prostitutes from the land and removed all the idols which his fathers had made.

for all the sins of Baasha and the sins of Elah his son, which they sinned and which they made Israel sin, provoking the Lord God of Israel to anger with their idols.

For he walked in all the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat and in his sins which he made Israel sin, provoking the Lord God of Israel with their idols.

He acted very abominably in following idols, according to all that the Amorites had done, whom the Lord cast out before the sons of Israel.

They served idols, concerning which the Lord had said to them, “You shall not do this thing.”

So while these nations feared the Lord, they also served their idols; their children likewise and their grandchildren, as their fathers did, so they do to this day.

“Because Manasseh king of Judah has done these abominations, having done wickedly more than all the Amorites did who were before him, and has also made Judah sin with his idols;

For he walked in all the way that his father had walked, and served the idols that his father had served and worshiped them.

Moreover, Josiah removed the mediums and the spiritists and the teraphim and the idols and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, that he might confirm the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the Lord.

So they stripped him and took his head and his armor and sent messengers around the land of the Philistines to carry the good news to their idols and to the people.

For all the gods of the peoples are idols,But the Lord made the heavens.

Now when Asa heard these words and the prophecy which Azariah the son of Oded the prophet spoke, he took courage and removed the abominable idols from all the land of Judah and Benjamin and from the cities which he had captured in the hill country of Ephraim. He then restored the altar of the Lord which was in front of the porch of the Lord.

They abandoned the house of the Lord, the God of their fathers, and served the Asherim and the idols; so wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this their guilt.

I hate those who regard vain idols,But I trust in the Lord.

For all the gods of the peoples are idols,But the Lord made the heavens.

Let all those be ashamed who serve graven images,Who boast themselves of idols;Worship Him, all you gods.

And served their idols,Which became a snare to them.

And shed innocent blood,The blood of their sons and their daughters,Whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan;And the land was polluted with the blood.

Their idols are silver and gold,The work of man’s hands.

The idols of the nations are but silver and gold,The work of man’s hands.

Their land has also been filled with idols;They worship the work of their hands,That which their fingers have made.

But the idols will completely vanish.

In that day men will cast away to the moles and the batsTheir idols of silver and their idols of gold,Which they made for themselves to worship,

“As my hand has reached to the kingdoms of the idols,Whose graven images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria,

Shall I not do to Jerusalem and her imagesJust as I have done to Samaria and her idols?”

The oracle concerning Egypt.Behold, the Lord is riding on a swift cloud and is about to come to Egypt;The idols of Egypt will tremble at His presence,And the heart of the Egyptians will melt within them.

“Then the spirit of the Egyptians will be demoralized within them;And I will confound their strategy,So that they will resort to idols and ghosts of the deadAnd to mediums and spiritists.

For in that day every man will cast away his silver idols and his gold idols, which your sinful hands have made for you as a sin.

They will be turned back and be utterly put to shame,Who trust in idols,Who say to molten images,“You are our gods.”

They will be put to shame and even humiliated, all of them;The manufacturers of idols will go away together in humiliation.

“When you cry out, let your collection of idols deliver you.But the wind will carry all of them up,And a breath will take them away.But he who takes refuge in Me will inherit the landAnd will possess My holy mountain.”

Behold, listen! The cry of the daughter of my people from a distant land:“Is the Lord not in Zion? Is her King not within her?”“Why have they provoked Me with their graven images, with foreign idols?”

Every man is stupid, devoid of knowledge;Every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols;For his molten images are deceitful,And there is no breath in them.

Are there any among the idols of the nations who give rain?Or can the heavens grant showers?Is it not You, O Lord our God?Therefore we hope in You,For You are the one who has done all these things.

I will first doubly repay their iniquity and their sin, because they have polluted My land; they have filled My inheritance with the carcasses of their detestable idols and with their abominations.”

“Declare and proclaim among the nations.Proclaim it and lift up a standard.Do not conceal it but say,‘Babylon has been captured,Bel has been put to shame, Marduk has been shattered;Her images have been put to shame, her idols have been shattered.’

“A drought on her waters, and they will be dried up!For it is a land of idols,And they are mad over fearsome idols.

All mankind is stupid, devoid of knowledge;Every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols,For his molten images are deceitful,And there is no breath in them.

Therefore behold, days are comingWhen I will punish the idols of Babylon;And her whole land will be put to shameAnd all her slain will fall in her midst.

“Therefore behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord,“When I will punish her idols,And the mortally wounded will groan throughout her land.

So as I live,’ declares the Lord God, ‘surely, because you have defiled My sanctuary with all your detestable idols and with all your abominations, therefore I will also withdraw, and My eye will have no pity and I will not spare.

So your altars will become desolate and your incense altars will be smashed; and I will make your slain fall in front of your idols.

I will also lay the dead bodies of the sons of Israel in front of their idols; and I will scatter your bones around your altars.

In all your dwellings, cities will become waste and the high places will be desolate, that your altars may become waste and desolate, your idols may be broken and brought to an end, your incense altars may be cut down, and your works may be blotted out.

Then those of you who escape will remember Me among the nations to which they will be carried captive, how I have been hurt by their adulterous hearts which turned away from Me, and by their eyes which played the harlot after their idols; and they will loathe themselves in their own sight for the evils which they have committed, for all their abominations.

Then you will know that I am the Lord, when their slain are among their idols around their altars, on every high hill, on all the tops of the mountains, under every green tree and under every leafy oak—the places where they offered soothing aroma to all their idols.

So I entered and looked, and behold, every form of creeping things and beasts and detestable things, with all the idols of the house of Israel, were carved on the wall all around.

“Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their hearts and have put right before their faces the stumbling block of their iniquity. Should I be consulted by them at all?

Therefore speak to them and tell them, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Any man of the house of Israel who sets up his idols in his heart, puts right before his face the stumbling block of his iniquity, and then comes to the prophet, I the Lord will be brought to give him an answer in the matter in view of the multitude of his idols,

in order to lay hold of the hearts of the house of Israel who are estranged from Me through all their idols.”’

“Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Repent and turn away from your idols and turn your faces away from all your abominations.

For anyone of the house of Israel or of the immigrants who stay in Israel who separates himself from Me, sets up his idols in his heart, puts right before his face the stumbling block of his iniquity, and then comes to the prophet to inquire of Me for himself, I the Lord will be brought to answer him in My own person.

“Moreover, you took your sons and daughters whom you had borne to Me and sacrificed them to idols to be devoured. Were your harlotries so small a matter?

You slaughtered My children and offered them up to idols by causing them to pass through the fire.

Thus says the Lord God, “Because your lewdness was poured out and your nakedness uncovered through your harlotries with your lovers and with all your detestable idols, and because of the blood of your sons which you gave to idols,

and does not eat at the mountain shrines or lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, or defile his neighbor’s wife or approach a woman during her menstrual period—

oppresses the poor and needy, commits robbery, does not restore a pledge, but lifts up his eyes to the idols and commits abomination,

He does not eat at the mountain shrines or lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, or defile his neighbor’s wife,

I said to them, ‘Cast away, each of you, the detestable things of his eyes, and do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt; I am the Lord your God.’

But they rebelled against Me and were not willing to listen to Me; they did not cast away the detestable things of their eyes, nor did they forsake the idols of Egypt.Then I resolved to pour out My wrath on them, to accomplish My anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt.

because they rejected My ordinances, and as for My statutes, they did not walk in them; they even profaned My sabbaths, for their heart continually went after their idols.

“I said to their children in the wilderness, ‘Do not walk in the statutes of your fathers or keep their ordinances or defile yourselves with their idols.

because they had not observed My ordinances, but had rejected My statutes and had profaned My sabbaths, and their eyes were on the idols of their fathers.

When you offer your gifts, when you cause your sons to pass through the fire, you are defiling yourselves with all your idols to this day. And shall I be inquired of by you, O house of Israel? As I live,” declares the Lord God, “I will not be inquired of by you.

“As for you, O house of Israel,” thus says the Lord God, “Go, serve everyone his idols; but later you will surely listen to Me, and My holy name you will profane no longer with your gifts and with your idols.

For the king of Babylon stands at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use divination; he shakes the arrows, he consults the household idols, he looks at the liver.

You shall say, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “A city shedding blood in her midst, so that her time will come, and that makes idols, contrary to her interest, for defilement!

You have become guilty by the blood which you have shed, and defiled by your idols which you have made. Thus you have brought your day near and have come to your years; therefore I have made you a reproach to the nations and a mocking to all the lands.

She bestowed her harlotries on them, all of whom were the choicest men of Assyria; and with all whom she lusted after, with all their idols she defiled herself.

These things will be done to you because you have played the harlot with the nations, because you have defiled yourself with their idols.

For they have committed adultery, and blood is on their hands. Thus they have committed adultery with their idols and even caused their sons, whom they bore to Me, to pass through the fire to them as food.

For when they had slaughtered their children for their idols, they entered My sanctuary on the same day to profane it; and lo, thus they did within My house.

Your lewdness will be requited upon you, and you will bear the penalty of worshiping your idols; thus you will know that I am the Lord God.’”

‘Thus says the Lord God,“I will also destroy the idolsAnd make the images cease from Memphis.And there will no longer be a prince in the land of Egypt;And I will put fear in the land of Egypt.

Therefore say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “You eat meat with the blood in it, lift up your eyes to your idols as you shed blood. Should you then possess the land?

Therefore I poured out My wrath on them for the blood which they had shed on the land, because they had defiled it with their idols.

Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.

They will no longer defile themselves with their idols, or with their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions; but I will deliver them from all their dwelling places in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them. And they will be My people, and I will be their God.

But the Levites who went far from Me when Israel went astray, who went astray from Me after their idols, shall bear the punishment for their iniquity.

Because they ministered to them before their idols and became a stumbling block of iniquity to the house of Israel, therefore I have sworn against them,” declares the Lord God, “that they shall bear the punishment for their iniquity.

For the sons of Israel will remain for many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar and without ephod or household idols.

Ephraim is joined to idols;Let him alone.

They have set up kings, but not by Me;They have appointed princes, but I did not know it.With their silver and gold they have made idols for themselves,That they might be cut off.