At once the gold cups and bowls were brought in, and they all drank wine out of them

and praised gods made of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone.

Now Amaziah, you have defeated the Edomites, and you are filled with pride. Be satisfied with your fame and stay at home. Why stir up trouble that will only bring disaster on you and your people?"

On that day the LORD Almighty will humble everyone who is powerful, everyone who is proud and conceited.

The LORD says to the nations, "Now I will act. I will show how powerful I am.

Whom do you think you have been insulting and ridiculing? You have been disrespectful to me, the holy God of Israel.

"Tell the archers to attack Babylon. Send out everyone who knows how to use the bow and arrow. Surround the city and don't let anyone escape. Pay it back for all it has done, and treat it as it has treated others, because it acted with pride against me, the Holy One of Israel.

"Mortal man," he said, "tell the ruler of Tyre what I, the Sovereign LORD, am saying to him: Puffed up with pride, you claim to be a god. You say that like a god you sit on a throne, surrounded by the seas. You may pretend to be a god, but, no, you are mortal, not divine.

You made clever business deals and kept on making profits. How proud you are of your wealth!

You were proud of being handsome, and your fame made you act like a fool. Because of this I hurled you to the ground and left you as a warning to other kings.

"Now then, I, the Sovereign LORD, will tell you what is going to happen to that tree that grew until it reached the clouds. As it grew taller it grew proud;

And this is the message: 'Those who are evil will not survive, but those who are righteous will live because they are faithful to God.' "

He must be mature in the faith, so that he will not swell up with pride and be condemned, as the Devil was.

The beast was allowed to make proud claims which were insulting to God, and it was permitted to have authority for forty-two months.

It began to curse God, his name, the place where he lives, and all those who live in heaven.

"And now, I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise, honor, and glorify the King of Heaven. Everything he does is right and just, and he can humble anyone who acts proudly."

blessed him, and said, "May the Most High God, who made heaven and earth, bless Abram!

Heaven belongs to the LORD alone, but he gave the earth to us humans.

While they were drinking, Belshazzar gave orders to bring in the gold and silver cups and bowls which his father Nebuchadnezzar had carried off from the Temple in Jerusalem. The king sent for them so that he, his noblemen, his wives, and his concubines could drink out of them.

and praised gods made of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone.

After the Philistines captured the Covenant Box, they carried it from Ebenezer to their city of Ashdod,

Early the next morning the people of Ashdod saw that the statue of Dagon had fallen face downward on the ground in front of the LORD's Covenant Box. So they lifted it up and put it back in its place.

(That is why even today the priests of Dagon and all his worshipers in Ashdod step over that place and do not walk on it.)

When they saw what was happening, they said, "The God of Israel is punishing us and our god Dagon. We can't let the Covenant Box stay here any longer."

But after it arrived there, the LORD punished that city too and caused a great panic. He punished them with tumors which developed in all the people of the city, young and old alike.

The Philistine kings met together to celebrate and offer a great sacrifice to their god Dagon. They sang, "Our god has given us victory over our enemy Samson!"

Their gods are made of silver and gold, formed by human hands.

They have ears, but cannot hear, and noses, but cannot smell.

May all who made them and who trust in them become like the idols they have made.

The gods of the nations are made of silver and gold; they are formed by human hands.

They have ears, but cannot hear; they are not even able to breathe.

and burned up their gods---which were no gods at all, only images of wood and stone made by human hands.

People open their purses and pour out gold; they weigh out silver on the scales. They hire a goldsmith to make a god; then they bow down and worship it.

They lift it to their shoulders and carry it; they put it in place, and there it stands, unable to move from where it is. If any pray to it, it cannot answer or save them from disaster.

What's the use of an idol? It is only something that a human being has made, and it tells you nothing but lies. What good does it do for its maker to trust it---a god that can't even talk!

You are doomed! You say to a piece of wood, "Wake up!" or to a block of stone, "Get up!" Can an idol reveal anything to you? It may be covered with silver and gold, but there is no life in it.

So then, about eating the food offered to idols: we know that an idol stands for something that does not really exist; we know that there is only the one God.

Then the LORD God took some soil from the ground and formed a man out of it; he breathed life-giving breath into his nostrils and the man began to live.

It is God who directs the lives of his creatures; everyone's life is in his power.

If God took back the breath of life,

then everyone living would die and turn into dust again.

When you turn away, they are afraid; when you take away your breath, they die and go back to the dust from which they came.

When they die, they return to the dust; on that day all their plans come to an end.

God created the heavens and stretched them out; he fashioned the earth and all that lives there; he gave life and breath to all its people. And now the LORD God says to his servant,

Nor does he need anything that we can supply by working for him, since it is he himself who gives life and breath and everything else to everyone.

as someone has said, 'In him we live and move and exist.' It is as some of your poets have said, 'We too are his children.'

Since we are God's children, we should not suppose that his nature is anything like an image of gold or silver or stone, shaped by human art and skill.

God knows everything I do; he sees every step I take.

You see me, whether I am working or resting; you know all my actions.

The LORD has determined our path; how then can anyone understand the direction his own life is taking?

LORD, I know that none of us are in charge of our own destiny; none of us have control over our own life.

There is nothing that can be hid from God; everything in all creation is exposed and lies open before his eyes. And it is to him that we must all give an account of ourselves.

They know God, but they do not give him the honor that belongs to him, nor do they thank him. Instead, their thoughts have become complete nonsense, and their empty minds are filled with darkness.

instead of worshiping the immortal God, they worship images made to look like mortals or birds or animals or reptiles.