1 Corinthians 10:19-20

10:19 Am I saying that idols or food sacrificed to them amount to anything? 10:20 No, I mean that what the pagans sacrifice ¹  is to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be partners with demons.

Psalms 115:4-8

115:4 Their ²  idols are made of silver and gold –

they are man-made. ³ 

115:5 They have mouths, but cannot speak,

eyes, but cannot see,

115:6 ears, but cannot hear,

noses, but cannot smell,

115:7 hands, but cannot touch,

feet, but cannot walk.

They cannot even clear their throats. ⁴ 

115:8 Those who make them will end up ⁵  like them,

as will everyone who trusts in them.

Isaiah 41:24

41:24 Look, you are nothing, and your accomplishments are nonexistent;

the one who chooses to worship you is disgusting. ⁶ 

Isaiah 44:8-9

44:8 Don’t panic! Don’t be afraid! ⁷ 

Did I not tell you beforehand and decree it?

You are my witnesses! Is there any God but me?

There is no other sheltering rock; ⁸  I know of none.

44:9 All who form idols are nothing;

the things in which they delight are worthless.

Their witnesses cannot see;

they recognize nothing, so they are put to shame.

Jeremiah 10:14

10:14 All these idolaters ⁹  will prove to be stupid and ignorant.

Every goldsmith will be disgraced by the idol he made.

For the image he forges is merely a sham. ¹⁰ 

There is no breath in any of those idols. ¹¹ 

Jeremiah 51:17-18

51:17 All idolaters will prove to be stupid and ignorant.

Every goldsmith will be disgraced by the idol he made.

For the image he forges is merely a sham.

There is no breath in any of those idols.

51:18 They are worthless, objects to be ridiculed.

When the time comes to punish them, they will be destroyed.

Habakkuk 2:19-20

2:19 The one who says to wood, ‘Wake up!’ is as good as dead ¹²  –

he who says ¹³  to speechless stone, ‘Awake!’

Can it give reliable guidance? ¹⁴ 

It is overlaid with gold and silver;

it has no life’s breath inside it.

2:20 But the Lord is in his majestic palace. ¹⁵ 

The whole earth is speechless in his presence!” ¹⁶ 

Acts 19:26

19:26 And you see and hear that this Paul has persuaded ¹⁷  and turned away ¹⁸  a large crowd, ¹⁹  not only in Ephesus ²⁰  but in practically all of the province of Asia, ²¹  by saying ²²  that gods made by hands are not gods at all. ²³ 

[10:20]  ¹ tn Grk “what they sacrifice”; the referent (the pagans) is clear from the context and has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[115:4]  ² tn The referent of the pronominal suffix is “the nations” (v. 2).

[115:4]  ³ tn Heb “the work of the hands of man.”

[115:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “they cannot mutter in their throats.” Verse 5a refers to speaking, v. 7c to inarticulate sounds made in the throat (see M. Dahood, Psalms [AB], 3:140-41).

[115:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “will be.” Another option is to take the prefixed verbal form as a prayer, “may those who make them end up like them.”

[41:24]  ⁶ tn Heb “an object of disgust [is he who] chooses you.”

[44:8]  ⁷ tn BDB 923 s.v. רָהָה derives this verb from an otherwise unattested root, while HALOT 403 s.v. יָרָה defines it as “be stupefied” on the basis of an Arabic cognate. The form is likely a corruption of תיראו, the reading attested in the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a.

[44:8]  ⁸ tn Heb “rock” or “rocky cliff,” a title that depicts God as a protective refuge in his role as sovereign king; thus the translation “sheltering rock.”

[10:14]  ⁹ tn Heb “Every man.” But in the context this is not a reference to all people without exception but to all idolaters. The referent is made explicit for the sake of clarity.

[10:14]  ¹⁰ tn Or “nothing but a phony god”; Heb “a lie/falsehood.”

[10:14]  ¹¹ tn Heb “There is no breath in them.” The referent is made explicit so that no one will mistakenly take it to refer to the idolaters or goldsmiths.

[2:19]  ¹² tn Heb “Woe [to] the one who says.” On the term הוֹי (hoy) see the note on the word “dead” in v. 6.

[2:19]  ¹³ tn The words “he who says” in the translation are supplied from the previous parallel line.

[2:19]  ¹⁴ tn Though the Hebrew text has no formal interrogative marker here, the context indicates that the statement should be taken as a rhetorical question anticipating the answer, “Of course not!” (so also NIV, NRSV).

[2:20]  ¹⁵ tn Or “holy temple.” The Lord’s heavenly palace, rather than the earthly temple, is probably in view here (see Ps 11:4; Mic 1:2-3). The Hebrew word ֹקדֶשׁ (qodesh, “holy”) here refers to the sovereign transcendence associated with his palace.

[2:20]  ¹⁶ tn Or “Be quiet before him, all the earth!”

[19:26]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “persuading.” The participle πείσας (peisa") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[19:26]  ¹⁸ tn Or “misled.”

[19:26]  ¹⁹ tn BDAG 472 s.v. ἱκανός 3.a has “of pers. ὄχλος a large crowd…Ac 11:24, 26; 19:26.”

[19:26]  ²⁰ map For location see JP1 D2; JP2 D2; JP3 D2; JP4 D2.

[19:26]  ²¹ tn Grk “Asia”; see the note on this word in v. 22.

[19:26]  ²² tn The participle λέγων (legwn) has been regarded as indicating instrumentality.

[19:26]  ²³ tn The words “at all” are not in the Greek text but are implied.