“ May anyone who makes a statue of a god and sets it up in secret be under the Lord’ s curse. That statue is made by a skilled worker. And the Lord hates it.” Then all the people will say,“ Amen!”

“‘有人制造耶和华所憎恶的偶像，或雕刻，或铸造，就是工匠手所做的，在暗中设立，那人必受咒诅！’百姓都要答应说：‘阿们！’

“‘凡制造耶和华所憎恶的偶像，无论是雕刻的，是铸造的，就是工匠用手造的，或暗中设置的，这人必受诅咒！’众百姓要回应说：‘阿们！’

“‘凡制造耶和华所憎恶的偶像，无论是雕刻的，是铸造的，就是工匠用手造的，或暗中设置的，这人必受诅咒！’众百姓要回应说：‘阿们！’

‘凡雕刻或铸造耶和华所憎恶的神像，并偷偷供奉的必受咒诅！’全体民众要回答说，‘阿们！’

“‘制造耶和华厌恶的雕像或铸像，工人手中做的，并且在暗处设立的，那人必受咒诅。’众民都要应声说：‘阿们。’

「『有人製造耶和華所憎惡的偶像，或雕刻，或鑄造，就是工匠手所做的，在暗中設立，那人必受咒詛！』百姓都要答應說：『阿們！』

「『凡製造耶和華所憎惡的偶像，無論是雕刻的，是鑄造的，就是工匠用手造的，或暗中設置的，這人必受詛咒！』眾百姓要回應說：『阿們！』

「『凡製造耶和華所憎惡的偶像，無論是雕刻的，是鑄造的，就是工匠用手造的，或暗中設置的，這人必受詛咒！』眾百姓要回應說：『阿們！』

『凡雕刻或鑄造耶和華所憎惡的神像，並偷偷供奉的必受咒詛！』全體民眾要回答說，『阿們！』

“‘製造耶和華厭惡的雕像或鑄像，工人手中做的，並且在暗處設立的，那人必受咒詛。’眾民都要應聲說：‘阿們。’

『「造永恆主所厭惡、匠人的手所作的雕像或鑄像，暗中立着的、那人必受咒詛」；眾民都要答應說：「阿們。」

凡人雕偶鑄像、匠人所造、乃耶和華所惡、立於隱處者、必受詛、眾民當應曰、阿們、

雕刻鎔鑄之像、人工所作、耶和華所惡、有製而立於私地者、當服咒詛、民必群應曰、固心所願。

匠人手所作石鑿金鑄之偶像、主所憎惡、有隱製而立者、必受咒詛、眾民當應曰、阿們、

“ Cursed is anyone who makes an idol— a thing detestable to the Lord, the work of skilled hands— and sets it up in secret.” Then all the people shall say,“ Amen!”

“‘ Cursed be the man who makes a carved or cast metal image, an abomination to the Lord, a thing made by the hands of a craftsman, and sets it up in secret.’ And all the people shall answer and say,‘ Amen.’

‘ Cursed is anyone who carves or casts an idol and secretly sets it up. These idols, the work of craftsmen, are detestable to the Lord.’ And all the people will reply,‘ Amen.’

‘ 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!’

‘ Cursed is the person who makes a carved image or cast metal image, an abomination to the Lord, the work of the hands of a craftsman, and sets it up in secret.’ And all the people shall reply and say,‘ Amen.’

‘ Cursed is the one who makes a carved or molded image, an abomination to the Lord, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and sets it up in secret.’“ And all the people shall answer and say,‘ Amen!’

Cursed be the man that maketh a graven or molten image, an abomination unto Jehovah, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and setteth it up in secret. And all the people shall answer and say, Amen.

‘ 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!’

Cursed[ be] the man that maketh[ any] graven or molten image, an abomination unto the LORD, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and putteth[ it] in[ a] secret[ place]. And all the people shall answer and say, Amen.

‘ Cursed is the one who makes a carved or metal image– something abhorrent to the LORD, the work of the craftsman– and sets it up in a secret place.’ Then all the people will say,‘ Amen!’

‘ Cursed is the man who makes an engraved or molten image, an abomination to Yahweh, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and sets it up in secret.’ All the people shall answer and say,‘ Amen.’

“ Do not make for yourself statues of gods that look like anything in the sky. They may not look like anything on the earth or in the waters either.

“ Do not make any statues of gods.

Suppose you are praising God in the Spirit. And suppose there are visitors among you who want to know what’s going on. How can they say“ Amen” when you give thanks? They don’t know what you are saying.

“‘ Do not make statues of gods for yourselves. Do not set up a likeness of a god or a sacred stone for yourselves. Do not place a carved stone in your land and bow down in front of it. I am the Lord your God.

“ Do not make statues of gods that look like anything in the sky or on the earth or in the waters.

“‘ Do not turn away from me to worship statues of gods. Do not make for yourselves metal statues of gods. I am the Lord your God.

Do not put any other gods in place of me. Do not make silver or gold statues of them for yourselves.

Jeremiah said,“ Amen, Hananiah! May the Lord do those things! May he make the words you have prophesied come true. May he bring back from Babylon the objects that belong to the Lord’ s house. May he bring back to this place all the people who were taken away.

I raised my hand and made a promise to your people of long ago. I promised them I would give them a land that had plenty of milk and honey.’ It is the land you own today. I kept my promise.” I replied,“ Amen, Lord.”

May this water that brings a curse enter your body. May it make your body unable to have children.”“‘ Then the woman must say,“ Amen. Let it happen.”

No one even stops to think about this. No one has any sense or understanding. If anyone did, they would say,“ I used half of the wood for fuel. I even baked bread over the fire. I cooked meat. Then I ate it. Should I now make a statue of a god out of the wood that’s left over? Should I bow down to a block of wood? The Lord would hate that.”

You will be cursed in the cities. You will be cursed out in the country.Your baskets and bread pans will be cursed.Your children will be cursed. Your crops will be cursed. Your calves and lambs will be cursed.You will be cursed no matter where you go.

Those who make statues of gods don’t amount to anything. And the statues they think so much of are worthless. Those who would speak up for them are blind. They don’t know anything. So they will be put to shame.People make statues of gods. But those gods can’t do any good.

From the rest of the wood he makes a statue. It becomes his god. He bows down and worships it. He prays to it. He says,“ Save me! You are my god!”

Keep us from sinning when we are tempted. Save us from the evil one.’

Now they sin more and more. They use their silver to make statues of gods for themselves. The statues come from their own clever ideas. Skilled workers make all of them. The people pray to these gods. They offer human sacrifices to them. They kiss the gods that look like calves.So these people will vanish like the morning mist. They will soon disappear like the early dew. They will be like straw that the wind blows around on a threshing floor. They will be like smoke that escapes through a window.

Solomon worshiped Ashtoreth. Ashtoreth was the female god of the Sidonians. He also worshiped Molek. Molek was the god of the Ammonites. The Lord hated that god.Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. He didn’t completely obey the Lord. He didn’t do what his father David had done.There is a hill east of Jerusalem. Solomon built a high place for worshiping Chemosh there. He built a high place for worshiping Molek there too. Chemosh was the god of Moab. Molek was the god of Ammon. The Lord hated both of those gods.

The people saw that Moses took a long time to come down from the mountain. So they gathered around Aaron. They said to him,“ Come. Make us a god that will lead us. This fellow Moses brought us up out of Egypt. But we don’t know what has happened to him.”Aaron answered them,“ Take the gold earrings off your wives, your sons and your daughters. Bring the earrings to me.”So all the people took off their earrings. They brought them to Aaron.He took what they gave him and made it into a metal statue of a god. It looked like a calf. Aaron shaped it with a tool. Then the people said,“ Israel, here is your god who brought you up out of Egypt.”

Laban had gone to clip the wool from his sheep. While he was gone, Rachel stole the statues of the family gods that belonged to her father.

“ His army will come and make the temple area‘ unclean.’ They will put a stop to the daily sacrifices. Then they will set up a hated thing that destroys.

My people were so proud of their beautiful jewelry. They used it to make statues of their evil gods. I hate those gods. So I will turn their jewelry into an“ unclean” thing for them.

Manasseh did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord. He followed the practices of the nations. The Lord hated those practices. The Lord had driven out those nations to make room for the Israelites.

He said,“ May a curse be put on Canaan! He will be the lowest of slaves to his brothers.”

Who can hide in secret places so that I can’t see them?” announces the Lord.“ Don’t I fill heaven and earth?” announces the Lord.

“ The prophet Daniel spoke about‘ the hated thing that destroys.’( Daniel 9:27; 11:31; 12:11) Someday you will see it standing in the holy place. The reader should understand this.

The king also destroyed the high places that were east of Jerusalem. They were at the southern end of the Mount of Olives. They were the ones Solomon, the king of Israel, had built. He had built a high place for worshiping Ashtoreth. She was the evil female god of the people of Sidon. Solomon had also built one for worshiping Chemosh. He was the evil god of Moab. And Solomon had built one for worshiping Molek. He was the god of the people of Ammon. The Lord hated that god.

We didn’t forget our God. We didn’t spread out our hands in prayer to a false god.If we had, God would have discovered it. He knows the secrets of our hearts.

You saw the statues of their gods made out of wood, stone, silver and gold. The Lord hates those statues.

Rachel was the one who had taken the statues of Laban’s family gods. She had put them inside her camel’s saddle. She was sitting on them. Laban searched the whole tent. But he didn’t find anything.

King Saul, please listen to what I’m saying. Was it the Lord who made you angry with me? If it was, may he accept my offering. Was it people who made you angry at me? If it was, may the Lord see them cursed. They have driven me today from my share of the Lord’ s land. By doing that, they might as well have said,‘ Go and serve other gods.’

Speak to them. Tell them,‘ The Lord and King says,“ Suppose any of the Israelites think about other gods. And they fall into the evil trap of worshiping them. Then they go to a prophet to ask for advice. If they do, I myself will tell the prophet to answer them in keeping with their worship of many gods.

I am the Lord, the God of Israel. So let the people know what I want them to do. Here is what I want you to tell them.‘ May the person who does not obey the terms of the covenant be under my curse.

Make sure you don’t commit a horrible sin. Don’t make for yourselves a statue of a god. Don’t make a god that looks like a man or woman or anything else.Don’t make one that looks like any animal on earth or any bird that flies in the sky.Don’t make a statue that looks like any creature that moves along the ground or any fish that swims in the water.When you look up at the heavens, you will see the sun and moon. And you will see huge numbers of stars. Don’t let anyone tempt you to bow down to the sun, moon or stars. Don’t worship things the Lord your God has provided for all the nations on earth.Egypt was like a furnace that melts iron down and makes it pure. But the Lord took you and brought you out of Egypt. He wanted you to be his very own people. And that’s exactly what you are.The Lord was angry with me because of what you did. He promised that he would never let me go across the Jordan River. He promised that I would never enter that good land. It’s the land the Lord your God is giving you as your own.I’ll die here in this land. I won’t go across the Jordan. But you are about to cross over it. You will take that good land as your own.Be careful. Don’t forget the covenant the Lord your God made with you. Don’t make for yourselves a statue of any god at all. He has told you not to. So don’t do it.

Then he brought me to the entrance to the courtyard. I looked up and saw a hole in the wall.He said to me,“ Son of man, dig into the wall.” So I did. And I saw a door there.He continued,“ Go through it. Look at the evil things they are doing here. I hate those things.”So I went in and looked. All over the walls were pictures of all kinds of crawling things and“ unclean” animals. The Lord hates it when people worship those things. There were also carvings of the gods of the people of Israel.In front of them stood 70 elders of Israel. Jaazaniah was standing there among them. He is the son of Shaphan. Each elder was holding a shallow cup. A sweet- smelling cloud of incense was rising from the cups.The Lord spoke to me. He said,“ Son of man, do you see what the elders of Israel are doing in the dark? Each of them is in his own room worshiping his own god. They say,‘ The Lord doesn’t see us. He has deserted the land.’ ”

The woman was dressed in purple and bright red. She was gleaming with gold, jewels and pearls. In her hand she held a golden cup filled with things that God hates. It was filled with her terrible, dirty sins.The name written on her forehead was a mystery. Here is what it said. the great city of babylon the mother of prostitutes the mother of everything on earth that god hates

And even Judah didn’t obey the commands of the Lord their God. They followed the practices Israel had started.