Idol: Manufacture of

You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in the heavens above, on the earth below, or in the waters beneath.

He took the gold from their hands, and with an engraving tool he fashioned it into a molten calf. And they said, “These, O Israel, are your gods, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!”

Then he took the calf they had made, burned it in the fire, ground it to powder, and scattered the powder over the face of the water. Then he forced the Israelites to drink it.

Be careful that you do not forget the covenant of the LORD your God that He made with you; do not make an idol for yourselves in the form of anything He has forbidden you.

To an idol that a craftsman casts and a metalworker overlays with gold and fits with silver chains?

One lacking such an offering chooses wood that will not rot. He seeks a skilled craftsman to set up an idol that will not topple.

All makers of idols are nothing, and the things they treasure are worthless. Their witnesses fail to see or comprehend, so they are put to shame. …

From the rest he makes a god, his graven image. He bows down to it and worships; he prays to it and says, “Save me, for you are my god.”

What use is an idol, that a craftsman should carve it—or an image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak.

It began with a silversmith named Demetrius who made silver shrines of Artemis, bringing much business to the craftsmen.

Demetrius assembled the craftsmen, along with the workmen in related trades. “Men,” he said, “you know that this business is our source of prosperity.