1 Kings 18:27

18:27 At noon Elijah mocked them, “Yell louder! After all, he is a god; he may be deep in thought, or perhaps he stepped out for a moment or has taken a trip. Perhaps he is sleeping and needs to be awakened.” ¹ 

1 Kings 18:29

18:29 Throughout the afternoon they were in an ecstatic frenzy, ²  but there was no sound, no answer, and no response. ³ 

Psalms 115:4-7

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

they are man-made. ⁵ 

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. ⁶ 

Isaiah 41:23

41:23 Predict how future events will turn out, ⁷ 

so we might know you are gods.

Yes, do something good or bad,

so we might be frightened and in awe. ⁸ 

Isaiah 46:1

The Lord Carries His People

46:1 Bel ⁹  kneels down,

Nebo ¹⁰  bends low.

Their images weigh down animals and beasts. ¹¹ 

Your heavy images are burdensome to tired animals. ¹² 

Isaiah 46:7

46:7 They put it on their shoulder and carry it;

they put it in its place and it just stands there;

it does not ¹³  move from its place.

Even when someone cries out to it, it does not reply;

it does not deliver him from his distress.

Jeremiah 10:5

10:5 Such idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field.

They cannot talk.

They must be carried

because they cannot walk.

Do not be afraid of them

because they cannot hurt you.

And they do not have any power to help you.” ¹⁴ 

Jeremiah 10:11

10:11 You people of Israel should tell those nations this:

‘These gods did not make heaven and earth.

They will disappear ¹⁵  from the earth and from under the heavens.’ ¹⁶ 

Jeremiah 10:1

The Lord, not Idols, is the Only Worthy Object of Worship

10:1 You people of Israel, ¹⁷  listen to what the Lord has to say to you.

Colossians 1:4

1:4 since ¹⁸  we heard about your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you have for all the saints.

[18:27]  ¹ sn Elijah’s sarcastic proposals would have been especially offensive and irritating to Baal’s prophets, for they believed Baal was imprisoned in the underworld as death’s captive during this time of drought. Elijah’s apparent ignorance of their theology is probably designed for dramatic effect; indeed the suggestion that Baal is away on a trip or deep in sleep comes precariously close to the truth as viewed by the prophets.

[18:29]  ² tn Heb “when noon passed they prophesied until the offering up of the offering.”

[18:29]  ³ tc The Old Greek translation and Syriac Peshitta include the following words here: “When it was time to offer the sacrifice, Elijah the Tishbite spoke to the prophets of the abominations: ‘Stand aside for the time being, and I will offer my burnt offering.’ So they stood aside and departed.”

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

[115:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “the work of the hands of man.”

[115:7]  ⁶ 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).

[41:23]  ⁷ tn Heb “Declare the coming things, with respect to the end.”

[41:23]  ⁸ tc The translation assumes the Qere (וְנִרְאֶה [vÿnir’eh], from יָרֵא [yare’], “be afraid”).

[46:1]  ⁹ sn Bel was the name of a Babylonian god. The name was originally associated with Enlil, but later was applied to Marduk. See HALOT 132 s.v. בֵּל.

[46:1]  ¹⁰ sn Nebo is a variation of the name of the Babylonian god Nabu.

[46:1]  ¹¹ tn Heb “their images belong to animals and beasts”; NIV “their idols are borne by beasts of burden”; NLT “are being hauled away.”

[46:1]  ¹² tn Heb “your loads are carried [as] a burden by a weary [animal].”

[46:7]  ¹³ tn Or perhaps, “cannot,” here and in the following two lines. The imperfect forms can indicate capability.

[10:5]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “And it is not in them to do good either.”

[10:11]  ¹⁵ tn Aram “The gods who did not make…earth will disappear…” The sentence is broken up in the translation to avoid a long, complex English sentence in conformity with contemporary English style.

[10:11]  ¹⁶ tn This verse is in Aramaic. It is the only Aramaic sentence in Jeremiah. Scholars debate the appropriateness of this verse to this context. Many see it as a gloss added by a postexilic scribe which was later incorporated into the text. Both R. E. Clendenen (“Discourse Strategies in Jeremiah 10,” JBL 106 [1987]: 401-8) and W. L. Holladay (Jeremiah [Hermeneia], 1:324-25, 334-35) have given detailed arguments that the passage is not only original but the climax and center of the contrast between the Lord and idols in vv. 2-16. Holladay shows that the passage is a very carefully constructed chiasm (see accompanying study note) which argues that “these” at the end is the subject of the verb “will disappear” not the attributive adjective modifying heaven. He also makes a very good case that the verse is poetry and not prose as it is rendered in the majority of modern English versions.

[10:1]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “house of Israel.”

[1:4]  ¹⁸ tn The adverbial participle ἀκούσαντες (akousante") is understood to be temporal and translated with “since.” A causal idea may also be in the apostle’s mind, but the context emphasizes temporal ideas, e.g., “from the day” (v. 6).