So the king sought counsel and made two golden calves. He said to them, “You have been going up to Jerusalem long enough! Here are your gods O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.”
“Assemble yourselves and come, draw near together, fugitives of the nations! Those who carry their wooden idols have no knowledge, praying to a god who cannot save.
Like a scarecrow in a cucumber garden, their idols cannot speak. They must be carried because they cannot walk! Do not fear them for they can do no harm —nor do any good.”
Adonai, my strength, my stronghold, my refuge in the day of affliction, to You will the nations come from the ends of the earth and say: “Our fathers have inherited nothing but lies, futility and useless things.”
Nebuchadnezzar responded to them saying, “Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, that you don’t serve my gods or worship the golden image that I set up?
What use is an idol when its craftsman has carved it? Or a metal image—a teacher of lies? For a craftsman has trusted in the image that he created, to make dumb idols.
You see and hear that not only in Ephesus but also throughout all Asia, Paul has persuaded and perverted a considerable crowd, saying that handmade gods are not gods at all.
