15 “‘Cursed be the man who makes a zcarved or acast 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.’
19 An idol! A tcraftsman casts it,
and a ugoldsmith overlays it with gold
and casts for it silver chains.
20 He who is too impoverished for an offering
chooses wood1 that will not rot;
he seeks out a skillful craftsman
to set up an idol that will vnot move.
3 for the customs of the peoples are vanity.1
A tree from the forest is cut down
and worked with an axe by the hands of a ycraftsman.
4 They decorate it with silver and gold;
they fasten it with hammer and nails
so that it cannot move.
5 Their idols2 are like scarecrows in a cucumber field,
and zthey cannot speak;
athey have to be carried,
for they cannot walk.
Do not be afraid of them,
for bthey cannot do evil,
neither is it in them to do good.”
2 And now they sin more and more,
and make for themselves metal images,
idols skillfully made of their silver,
all of them the work of craftsmen.
It is said of them,
