'Idol' in the Bible

Do not make an idol for yourself, whether in the shape of anything in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the waters under the earth.

not to act corruptly and make an idol for yourselves in the shape of any figure: a male or female form,

Be careful not to forget the covenant of the Lord your God that He made with you, and make an idol for yourselves in the shape of anything He has forbidden you.

“When you have children and grandchildren and have been in the land a long time, and if you act corruptly, make an idol in the form of anything, and do what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God, provoking Him to anger,

Do not make an idol for yourself in the shape of anything in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the waters under the earth.

‘The person who makes a carved idol or cast image, which is detestable to the Lord, the work of a craftsman, and sets it up in secret is cursed.’And all the people will reply, ‘Amen!’

Then Michal took the household idol and put it on the bed, placed some goat hair on its head, and covered it with a garment.

When the messengers arrived, to their surprise, the household idol was on the bed with some goat hair on its head.

Solomon followed Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and Milcom, the detestable idol of the Ammonites.

At that time, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh, the detestable idol of Moab, and for Milcom, the detestable idol of the Ammonites, on the hill across from Jerusalem.

The king also defiled the high places that were across from Jerusalem, to the south of the Mount of Destruction, which King Solomon of Israel had built for Ashtoreth, the detestable idol of the Sidonians; for Chemosh, the detestable idol of Moab; and for Milcom, the abomination of the Ammonites.

Manasseh set up a carved image of the idol he had made, in God’s temple, about which God had said to David and his son Solomon, “I will establish My name forever in this temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel.

He removed the foreign gods and the idol from the Lord’s temple, along with all the altars that he had built on the mountain of the Lord’s temple and in Jerusalem, and he threw them outside the city.

To an idol?—something that a smelter casts,and a metalworker plates with goldand makes silver welds for it?

To one who shapes a pedestal,choosing wood that does not rot?He looks for a skilled craftsmanto set up an idol that will not fall over.

The ironworker labors over the coals,shapes the idol with hammers,and works it with his strong arm.Also he grows hungry and his strength fails;he doesn’t drink water and is faint.

It serves as fuel for man.He takes some of it and warms himself;also he kindles a fire and bakes bread;he even makes it into a god and worships it;he makes an idol from it and bows down to it.

He makes a god or his idol with the rest of it.He bows down to it and worships;He prays to it, “Save me, for you are my god.”

therefore I declared to you long ago.I announced it to you before it occurred,so you could not claim, ‘My idol caused them;my carved image and cast idol control them.’

One slaughters an ox, one kills a man;one sacrifices a lamb, one breaks a dog’s neck;one offers a grain offering, one offers pig’s blood;one offers incense, one praises an idol—all these have chosen their waysand delight in their detestable practices.

Then He said to me, “Son of man, do you see what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the darkness, each at the shrine of his idol? For they are saying, ‘The Lord does not see us. The Lord has abandoned the land.’”

Your calf-idol is rejected, Samaria.My anger burns against them.How long will they be incapable of innocence?

The Lord has issued an order concerning you:There will be no offspringto carry on your name.I will eliminate the carved idol and cast imagefrom the house of your gods;I will prepare your grave,for you are contemptible.

What use is a carved idolafter its craftsman carves it?It is only a cast image, a teacher of lies.For the one who crafts its shape trusts in itand makes idols that cannot speak.

They even made a calf in those days, offered sacrifice to the idol, and were celebrating what their hands had made.

About eating food offered to idols, then, we know that “an idol is nothing in the world,” and that “there is no God but one.”

However, not everyone has this knowledge. In fact, some have been so used to idolatry up until now that when they eat food offered to an idol, their conscience, being weak, is defiled.

What am I saying then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything?

But if someone says to you, “This is food offered to an idol,” do not eat it, out of consideration for the one who told you, and for conscience’ sake.