Bible Verses About Idolatry

“Little children, keep yourselves from idols.”

“Those who cling to worthless idols forsake His loving devotion.”

“All makers of idols are nothing, and the things they treasure are worthless. Their witnesses fail to see or comprehend, so they are put to shame. Who fashions a god or casts an idol which profits him nothing? Behold, all his companions will be put to shame, for the craftsmen themselves are only human. Let them all assemble and take their stand; they will all be brought to terror and shame. The blacksmith takes a tool and labors over the coals; he fashions an idol with hammers and forges it with his strong arms. Yet he grows hungry and loses his strength; he fails to drink water and grows faint. The woodworker extends a measuring line; he marks it out with a stylus; he shapes it with chisels and outlines it with a compass. He fashions it in the likeness of man, like man in all his glory, that it may dwell in a shrine. He cuts down cedars or retrieves a cypress or oak. He lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest. He plants a laurel, and the rain makes it grow. It serves as fuel for man. He takes some of it to warm himself, and he kindles a fire and bakes his bread. He also fashions it into a god and worships it; he makes an idol and bows down to it. He burns half of it in the fire, and he roasts meat on that half. He eats the roast and is satisfied. Indeed, he warms himself and says, “Ah! I am warm; I see the fire.” From the rest he makes a god, his graven image. He bows down to it and worships; he prays to it and says, “Save me, for you are my god.” They do not comprehend or discern, for He has shut their eyes so they cannot see and closed their minds so they cannot understand. And no one considers in his heart, no one has the knowledge or insight to say, “I burned half of it in the fire, and I baked bread on its coals; I roasted meat and I ate. Shall I make something detestable with the rest of it? Shall I bow down to a block of wood?” He feeds on ashes. His deluded heart has led him astray, and he cannot deliver himself or say, “Is not this thing in my right hand a lie?”

“Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves molten gods. I am the LORD your God.”

“Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.”

“Sorrows will multiply to those who chase other gods. I will not pour out their libations of blood, or speak their names with my lips.”

“The idols of the nations are silver and gold, made by the hands of men. They have mouths, but cannot speak; they have eyes, but cannot see; they have ears, but cannot hear; nor is there breath in their mouths. Those who make them become like them, as do all who trust in them.”

“For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance is like the wickedness of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He has rejected you as king.”

“Then the cities of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem will go and cry out to the gods to which they have been burning incense, but these gods certainly will not save them in their time of disaster.”

“See that you do everything I command you; do not add to it or subtract from it.”

“Come, gather together, and draw near, you fugitives from the nations. Ignorant are those who carry idols of wood and pray to a god that cannot save.”

“Do not be idolaters, as some of them were. As it is written: “The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.”

“Pay close attention to everything I have said to you. You must not invoke the names of other gods; they must not be heard on your lips.”

‘Cursed is the man who makes a carved idol or molten image — an abomination to the LORD, the work of the hands of a craftsman — and sets it up in secret.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’

“Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen. Let them save you in your time of trouble.”

“The sons gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough to make cakes for the Queen of Heaven; they pour out drink offerings to other gods to provoke Me to anger.”

“Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to Your name be the glory, because of Your loving devotion, because of Your faithfulness. Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?” Our God is in heaven; He does as He pleases. Their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men. They have mouths, but cannot speak; they have eyes, but cannot see; they have ears, but cannot hear; they have noses, but cannot smell; they have hands, but cannot feel; they have feet, but cannot walk; they cannot even clear their throats. Those who make them become like them, as do all who trust in them. O Israel, trust in the LORD! He is their help and shield. O house of Aaron, trust in the LORD! He is their help and shield. You who fear the LORD, trust in the LORD! He is their help and shield. The LORD is mindful of us; He will bless us. He will bless the house of Israel; He will bless the house of Aaron; He will bless those who fear the LORD— small and great alike. May the LORD give you increase, both you and your children. May you be blessed by the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. The highest heavens belong to the LORD, but the earth He has given to mankind. It is not the dead who praise the LORD, nor any who descend into silence. But it is we who will bless the LORD, both now and forevermore. Hallelujah!”

“You must not make idols for yourselves or set up a carved image or sacred pillar; you must not place a sculpted stone in your land to bow down to it. For I am the LORD your God.”

“For you have spent enough time in the past carrying out the same desires as the Gentiles: living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing, and detestable idolatry.”

“From the rest he makes a god, his graven image. He bows down to it and worships; he prays to it and says, “Save me, for you are my god.”

“So since you saw no form of any kind on the day the LORD spoke to you out of the fire at Horeb, be careful that you do not act corruptly and make an idol for yourselves of any form or shape, whether in the likeness of a male or female, of any beast that is on the earth or bird that flies in the air, or of any creature that crawls on the ground or fish that is in the waters below. When you look to the heavens and see the sun and moon and stars— all the host of heaven— do not be enticed to bow down and worship what the LORD your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven.”

“Their land is full of idols; they bow down to the work of their hands, to what their fingers have made.”

“You must burn up the images of their gods; do not covet the silver and gold that is on them or take it for yourselves, or you will be ensnared by it; for it is detestable to the LORD your God.”

“For the customs of the peoples are worthless; they cut down a tree from the forest; it is shaped with a chisel by the hands of a craftsman. They adorn it with silver and gold and fasten it with hammer and nails, so that it will not totter. Like scarecrows in a cucumber patch, their idols cannot speak. They must be carried because they cannot walk. Do not fear them, for they can do no harm, and neither can they do any good.” There is none like You, O LORD. You are great, and Your name is mighty in power. Who would not fear You, O King of nations? This is Your due. For among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like You. But they are altogether senseless and foolish, instructed by worthless idols made of wood! Hammered silver is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz — the work of a craftsman from the hands of a goldsmith. Their clothes are blue and purple, all fashioned by skilled workers. But the LORD is the true God; He is the living God and eternal King. The earth quakes at His wrath, and the nations cannot endure His indignation. Thus you are to tell them: “These gods, who have made neither the heavens nor the earth, will perish from this earth and from under these heavens.” The LORD made the earth by His power; He established the world by His wisdom and stretched out the heavens by His understanding. When He thunders, the waters in the heavens roar; He causes the clouds to rise from the ends of the earth. He generates the lightning with the rain and brings forth the wind from His storehouses. Every man is senseless and devoid of knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols. For his molten images are a fraud, and there is no breath in them. They are worthless, a work to be mocked. In the time of their punishment they will perish. The Portion of Jacob is not like these, for He is the Maker of all things, and Israel is the tribe of His inheritance— the LORD of Hosts is His name.”

“But I have a few things against you, because some of you hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to place a stumbling block before the Israelites so they would eat food sacrificed to idols and commit sexual immorality.”

“But those who trust in idols and say to molten images, ‘You are our gods!’ will be turned back in utter shame.”

“Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you with speculation about what he has seen. Such a person is puffed up without basis by his unspiritual mind.”

“I will pronounce My judgments against them for all their wickedness, because they have forsaken Me, and they have burned incense to other gods and worshiped the works of their own hands.”

“Now while Laban was out shearing his sheep, Rachel stole her father’s household idols.”

“I will also cut off the carved images and sacred pillars from among you, so that you will no longer bow down to the work of your own hands.”

“In that day men will cast away to the moles and bats their idols of silver and gold — the idols they made to worship.”

“Am I suggesting, then, that food sacrificed to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything?”

“But the more I called Israel, the farther they departed from Me. They sacrificed to the Baals and burned incense to carved images.”

“They lift it to their shoulder and carry it along; they set it in its place, and there it stands, not budging from that spot. They cry out to it, but it does not answer; it saves no one from his troubles.”

“Their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men. They have mouths, but cannot speak; they have eyes, but cannot see; they have ears, but cannot hear; they have noses, but cannot smell; they have hands, but cannot feel; they have feet, but cannot walk; they cannot even clear their throats. Those who make them become like them, as do all who trust in them.”

“For you must not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.”

“And you must not bring any detestable thing into your house, or you, like it, will be set apart for destruction. You are to utterly detest and abhor it, because it is set apart for destruction.”

“They shed innocent blood— the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was polluted with blood.”

“Go to Bethel and transgress; rebel even more at Gilgal! Bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three days.”

“He removed the high places, shattered the sacred pillars, and cut down the Asherah poles. He also demolished the bronze snake called Nehushtan that Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had burned incense to it.”

“Instead, you have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven. The vessels from His house were brought to you, and as you drank wine from them with your nobles, wives, and concubines, you praised your gods of silver and gold, bronze and iron, wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or understand. But you have failed to glorify the God who holds in His hand your very breath and all your ways.”

“And Joshua said to all the people, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Long ago your fathers, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the Euphrates and worshiped other gods.”

“Woe to him who says to wood, ‘Awake!’ or to silent stone, ‘Arise!’ Can it give guidance? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, yet there is no breath in it at all.”

“Now, therefore, fear the LORD and serve Him in sincerity and truth; cast aside the gods your fathers served beyond the Euphrates and in Egypt, and serve the LORD.”

“So the next day they arose, offered burnt offerings, and presented peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.”

“If you ever forget the LORD your God and go after other gods to worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely perish.”

“When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, He told him, “Go, take a prostitute as your wife and have children of adultery, because this land is flagrantly prostituting itself by departing from the LORD.”

“They have built the high places of Baal in the Valley of Ben-hinnom to make their sons and daughters pass through the fire to Molech— something I never commanded them, nor had it ever entered My mind, that they should commit such an abomination and cause Judah to sin.”

“When you offer your gifts, sacrificing your sons in the fire, you continue to defile yourselves with all your idols to this day. So should I be consulted by you, O house of Israel? As surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, I will not be consulted by you!”

“They will not look to the altars they have fashioned with their hands or to the Asherahs and incense altars they have made with their fingers.”