There is only one God, and He is the only one all men should bow to in reverence and fear. God Almighty, the maker of the heavens and the earth began to be revealed to men and they began to revere Him when they began to multiply and fill the earth.
Though He was known by some, others did not acknowledge Him as God and Creator, and so they went about their business, doing things that were unpleasing to Him.
They gave themselves to the lusts of their flesh and would not serve God, so we find people like the inhabitants of the earth in the time of Noah being wiped out by the flood, and also later, the people of Sodom and Gomorrah being punished and wiped out by brimstone from heaven.
Later on, God decided to raise a people that would be the lineage through which He would bring the eternal salvation that men needed, and the first command He gave them was this:
“I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” – Exodus 20:2-3 KJV
This was the opening statement that God Almighty made to the people as a first requirement to His worship and service. He was concerned about their hearts.
God has made all things, and He expects men to come to the knowledge of this truth and fear and worship Him alone, not some other creation that we think might be responsible for our success or existence.
What Really is Idolatry?
Idolatry can appear in two forms:
The first is the physical form, which is easiest to spot, was the problem in the days of the Israelites, and is still a problem today.
The Israelites had been in the land of Egypt, a land of godless people and idol worshippers, and so had learnt their ways for so long.
They were accustomed to worshipping the Egyptian false gods in graven images and many other forms. So, the first thing God wanted His people to know was that He was the only true God and the powerful One who delivered them from Egypt. So, He said to them:
“Thou shalt not make thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.” – Exodus 20:4 KJV
He didn’t want them going back to these false practices that led to nowhere.
The second form of idolatry is subtler and can mostly go unnoticed if not properly supervised. It is the thirst and strive for the things of the world, which leads to eventually putting God in second-place.
So, Jesus, speaking in the Bible said:
“And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.” – Mark 4:19 KJV
This is another form of idolatry, when we let our hearts be overwhelmed and so crowded with the needs of the next day, and how to acquire more, forgetting the giver of all things. Men can be led astray by the things that they want so desperately.
These things, as Jesus calls them, are all a deceit, because they cover our eyes from looking unto to the only wise God, who has made all things and is able to give all things.
Whenever we let anything have its way into our hearts and assume a glorified position, then it is equal to idol worship, because we have decided to channel our strength and energy into trying to make room for it in our lives by all means, and this should be the place we give only God.
The book of first John says:
“For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not from the Father, but is of the world.” – 1 John 2:16 KJV
And we know that whatever is of this world cannot please God, but only seeks to replace Him. Every form of lust is an attempt of the devil to dethrone God from our hearts, and exalt the picture that you see your lust or desires producing.
Different Forms of Lust
Lusts appear in many forms; from sexual, money, food, exotic stuff, and all its variants. It is not of the Father, and it cannot give the Father glory. Is money bad? Is food and having a good life bad? The answers to these questions are no.
It only becomes a problem when they take the whole of our attention and we have no room for God, or when we do them at the wrong time, or without honor and reverence to God.
Some people have made their bellies their idols. They continually only think of what to eat and how to get it. They are so desperate and worried about getting food, and so afraid of the slightest thought of the possibility of not having enough to eat.
“Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.” – Philippians 3:19 ESV
Worshipping and having reverence for God, is total dependence on His power to save, to heal, and to deliver.
God is a jealous God, and what this means is that He doesn’t want you looking in another direction seeking for help while He is there:
“… for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God…” – Exodus 20:5 KJV
Idolatry is not only a sin because you are not worshipping God, but because you fail to see and know who He is and what He is.
God frowns at idolatry, because it is the biggest show of ignorance. When people are idolatrous either physically or spiritually, it shows that they have no knowledge of the true, living God, and have not yet found out who made the world and the heavens, or who is able to provide for their needs.
God wants men to know Him, and not waste time paying attention to things that have no power to save:
“For I desired mercy and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.” – Hosea 6:6 KJV
Idolatry is not only dishonoring to God but is the greatest display of men’s ignorance.
“You shall have no other gods before me. “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. – Exodus 20:3-6 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. – Colossians 3:5
Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love. – Jonah 2:8
Little children, keep yourselves from idols. – 1 John 5:21
All who fashion idols are nothing, and the things they delight in do not profit. Their witnesses neither see nor know, that they may be put to shame. Who fashions a god or casts an idol that is profitable for nothing? Behold, all his companions shall be put to shame, and the craftsmen are only human. Let them all assemble, let them stand forth. They shall be terrified; they shall be put to shame together. The ironsmith takes a cutting tool and works it over the coals. He fashions it with hammers and works it with his strong arm. He becomes hungry, and his strength fails; he drinks no water and is faint. The carpenter stretches a line; he marks it out with a pencil. He shapes it with planes and marks it with a compass. He shapes it into the figure of a man, with the beauty of a man, to dwell in a house. … – Isaiah 44:9-20
Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves any gods of cast metal: I am the Lord your God. – Leviticus 19:4
The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply; their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out or take their names on my lips. – Psalm 16:4
Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. – 1 Corinthians 10:14
Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. – Galatians 5:19-21
The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They have mouths, but do not speak; they have eyes, but do not see; they have ears, but do not hear, nor is there any breath in their mouths. Those who make them become like them, so do all who trust in them! – Psalm 135:15-18
And God spoke all these words, saying, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. “You shall have no other gods before me. “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, … – Exodus 20:1-8
Then the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem will go and cry to the gods to whom they make offerings, but they cannot save them in the time of their trouble. – Jeremiah 11:12
“Everything that I command you, you shall be careful to do. You shall not add to it or take from it. “If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, ‘Let us go after other gods,’ which you have not known, ‘and let us serve them,’ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the Lord your God is testing you, to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and hold fast to him. … – Deuteronomy 12:32-13:18
“Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, you survivors of the nations! They have no knowledge who carry about their wooden idols, and keep on praying to a god that cannot save. – Isaiah 45:20
The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk, – Revelation 9:20
Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. – Galatians 4:8
For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has also rejected you from being king.” – 1 Samuel 15:23
Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” – 1 Corinthians 10:7
The children gather wood, the fathers kindle fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven. And they pour out drink offerings to other gods, to provoke me to anger. – Jeremiah 7:18
“Pay attention to all that I have said to you, and make no mention of the names of other gods, nor let it be heard on your lips. – Exodus 23:13
Go and cry out to the gods whom you have chosen; let them save you in the time of your distress.” – Judges 10:14
Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness! Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?” Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases. Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see. … – Psalm 115:1-18
For the customs of the peoples are vanity. A tree from the forest is cut down and worked with an axe by the hands of a craftsman. They decorate it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so that it cannot move. Their idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field, and they cannot speak; they have to be carried, for they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, neither is it in them to do good.” There is none like you, O Lord; you are great, and your name is great in might. Who would not fear you, O King of the nations? For this is your due; for among all the wise ones of the nations and in all their kingdoms there is none like you. … – Jeremiah 10:3-16
And exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. – Romans 1:23
And the rest of it he makes into a god, his idol, and falls down to it and worships it. He prays to it and says, “Deliver me, for you are my god!” – Isaiah 44:17
Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, – 1 Corinthians 6:9
“‘Cursed be the man who makes a carved or cast 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.’ – Deuteronomy 27:15
The more they were called, the more they went away; they kept sacrificing to the Baals and burning offerings to idols. – Hosea 11:2
And I will cut off your carved images and your pillars from among you, and you shall bow down no more to the work of your hands; – Micah 5:13
The carved images of their gods you shall burn with fire. You shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them or take it for yourselves, lest you be ensnared by it, for it is an abomination to the Lord your God. – Deuteronomy 7:25
But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality. – Revelation 2:14
They lift it to their shoulders, they carry it, they set it in its place, and it stands there; it cannot move from its place. If one cries to it, it does not answer or save him from his trouble. – Isaiah 46:7
Their land is filled with idols; they bow down to the work of their hands, to what their own fingers have made. – Isaiah 2:8
What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? – 1 Corinthians 10:19
“What profit is an idol when its maker has shaped it, a metal image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in his own creation when he makes speechless idols! – Habakkuk 2:18
They are turned back and utterly put to shame, who trust in carved idols, who say to metal images, “You are our gods.” – Isaiah 42:17
Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. – Acts 17:29
Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, – Colossians 2:18
For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. – Ephesians 5:5
For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. – 1 Peter 4:3
And I will declare my judgments against them, for all their evil in forsaking me. They have made offerings to other gods and worshiped the works of their own hands. – Jeremiah 1:16
And you shall not bring an abominable thing into your house and become devoted to destruction like it. You shall utterly detest and abhor it, for it is devoted to destruction. – Deuteronomy 7:26
But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.” – Revelation 21:8
In that day mankind will cast away their idols of silver and their idols of gold, which they made for themselves to worship, to the moles and to the bats, – Isaiah 2:20
But you have lifted up yourself against the Lord of heaven. And the vessels of his house have been brought in before you, and you and your lords, your wives, and your concubines have drunk wine from them. And you have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which do not see or hear or know, but the God in whose hand is your breath, and whose are all your ways, you have not honored. – Daniel 5:23
“You shall have no other gods before me. – Exodus 20:3
“Come to Bethel, and transgress; to Gilgal, and multiply transgression; bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three days; – Amos 4:4
Those who bow down on the roofs to the host of the heavens, those who bow down and swear to the Lord and yet swear by Milcom, – Zephaniah 1:5
And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. – Exodus 32:6
That you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.” – Acts 15:29
When you present your gifts and offer up your children in fire, you defile yourselves with all your idols to this day. And shall I be inquired of by you, O house of Israel? As I live, declares the Lord God, I will not be inquired of by you. – Ezekiel 20:31
And they cried aloud and cut themselves after their custom with swords and lances, until the blood gushed out upon them. – 1 Kings 18:28
You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, – Exodus 20:5
“Thus says the Lord: Even so will I spoil the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who stubbornly follow their own heart and have gone after other gods to serve them and worship them, shall be like this loincloth, which is good for nothing. For as the loincloth clings to the waist of a man, so I made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to me, declares the Lord, that they might be for me a people, a name, a praise, and a glory, but they would not listen. “You shall speak to them this word: ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, “Every jar shall be filled with wine.”’ And they will say to you, ‘Do we not indeed know that every jar will be filled with wine?’ Then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord: Behold, I will fill with drunkenness all the inhabitants of this land: the kings who sit on David’s throne, the priests, the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. … – Jeremiah 13:9-27
I am the Lord; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols. – Isaiah 42:8
He will not look to the altars, the work of his hands, and he will not look on what his own fingers have made, either the Asherim or the altars of incense. – Isaiah 17:8
Laban had gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel stole her father’s household gods. – Genesis 31:19
But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one. – 1 Corinthians 5:11
Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols. – Acts 17:16
Woe to him who says to a wooden thing, Awake; to a silent stone, Arise! Can this teach? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in it. – Habakkuk 2:19
They built the high places of Baal in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to offer up their sons and daughters to Molech, though I did not command them, nor did it enter into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin. – Jeremiah 32:35
A people who provoke me to my face continually, sacrificing in gardens and making offerings on bricks; – Isaiah 65:3
Among the smooth stones of the valley is your portion; they, they, are your lot; to them you have poured out a drink offering, you have brought a grain offering. Shall I relent for these things? – Isaiah 57:6
“You shall not make idols for yourselves or erect an image or pillar, and you shall not set up a figured stone in your land to bow down to it, for I am the Lord your God. – Leviticus 26:1
You know that when you were pagans you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led. – 1 Corinthians 12:2
For I want you to know, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. … – 1 Corinthians 10:1-33
When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.” – Hosea 1:2
The houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah—all the houses on whose roofs offerings have been offered to all the host of heaven, and drink offerings have been poured out to other gods—shall be defiled like the place of Topheth.’” – Jeremiah 19:13
“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. – Matthew 6:24
Then certain of the elders of Israel came to me and sat before me. And the word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, these men have taken their idols into their hearts, and set the stumbling block of their iniquity before their faces. Should I indeed let myself be consulted by them? Therefore speak to them and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Any one of the house of Israel who takes his idols into his heart and sets the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and yet comes to the prophet, I the Lord will answer him as he comes with the multitude of his idols, that I may lay hold of the hearts of the house of Israel, who are all estranged from me through their idols. … – Ezekiel 14:1-14
Those who lavish gold from the purse, and weigh out silver in the scales, hire a goldsmith, and he makes it into a god; then they fall down and worship! – Isaiah 46:6
Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. – Psalm 115:4
With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you; – 1 Peter 4:4
For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. – Acts 17:23
You also took your beautiful jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself images of men, and with them played the whore. – Ezekiel 16:17
Behold, the cry of the daughter of my people from the length and breadth of the land: “Is the Lord not in Zion? Is her King not in her?” “Why have they provoked me to anger with their carved images and with their foreign idols?” – Jeremiah 8:19
But you, draw near, sons of the sorceress, offspring of the adulterer and the loose woman. Whom are you mocking? Against whom do you open your mouth wide and stick out your tongue? Are you not children of transgression, the offspring of deceit, you who burn with lust among the oaks, under every green tree, who slaughter your children in the valleys, under the clefts of the rocks? Among the smooth stones of the valley is your portion; they, they, are your lot; to them you have poured out a drink offering, you have brought a grain offering. Shall I relent for these things? On a high and lofty mountain you have set your bed, and there you went up to offer sacrifice. … – Isaiah 57:3-13
He removed the high places and broke the pillars and cut down the Asherah. And he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had made offerings to it (it was called Nehushtan). – 2 Kings 18:4
And if you forget the Lord your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish. – Deuteronomy 8:19
No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he? – 1 Corinthians 10:20-22
Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, … – Romans 1:1-32
For the household gods utter nonsense, and the diviners see lies; they tell false dreams and give empty consolation. Therefore the people wander like sheep; they are afflicted for lack of a shepherd. – Zechariah 10:2
In the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I sat in my house, with the elders of Judah sitting before me, the hand of the Lord God fell upon me there. Then I looked, and behold, a form that had the appearance of a man. Below what appeared to be his waist was fire, and above his waist was something like the appearance of brightness, like gleaming metal. He put out the form of a hand and took me by a lock of my head, and the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and brought me in visions of God to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the gateway of the inner court that faces north, where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provokes to jealousy. And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, like the vision that I saw in the valley. Then he said to me, “Son of man, lift up your eyes now toward the north.” So I lifted up my eyes toward the north, and behold, north of the altar gate, in the entrance, was this image of jealousy. … – Ezekiel 8:1-9:11
Every man is stupid and without knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols, for his images are false, and there is no breath in them. – Jeremiah 51:17
And they shall be spread before the sun and the moon and all the host of heaven, which they have loved and served, which they have gone after, and which they have sought and worshiped. And they shall not be gathered or buried. They shall be as dung on the surface of the ground. – Jeremiah 8:2
They poured out innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was polluted with blood. – Psalm 106:38
You shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, – Deuteronomy 5:9
(for you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God), – Exodus 34:14
Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who is seated on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality, and with the wine of whose sexual immorality the dwellers on earth have become drunk.” And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names, and it had seven heads and ten horns. The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality. And on her forehead was written a name of mystery: “Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth’s abominations.” … – Revelation 17:1-6
Judah has been faithless, and abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the Lord, which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god. May the Lord cut off from the tents of Jacob any descendant of the man who does this, who brings an offering to the Lord of hosts! And this second thing you do. You cover the Lord’s altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand. – Malachi 2:11-13
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” – Micah 6:7
But we will do everything that we have vowed, make offerings to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her, as we did, both we and our fathers, our kings and our officials, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then we had plenty of food, and prospered, and saw no disaster. – Jeremiah 44:17
Can man make for himself gods? Such are not gods!” – Jeremiah 16:20
For you have rejected your people, the house of Jacob, because they are full of things from the east and of fortune-tellers like the Philistines, and they strike hands with the children of foreigners. Their land is filled with silver and gold, and there is no end to their treasures; their land is filled with horses, and there is no end to their chariots. Their land is filled with idols; they bow down to the work of their hands, to what their own fingers have made. So man is humbled, and each one is brought low— do not forgive them! Enter into the rock and hide in the dust from before the terror of the Lord, and from the splendor of his majesty. … – Isaiah 2:6-22
For he sacrificed to the gods of Damascus that had defeated him and said, “Because the gods of the kings of Syria helped them, I will sacrifice to them that they may help me.” But they were the ruin of him and of all Israel. – 2 Chronicles 28:23
Then you shall keep the Feast of Weeks to the Lord your God with the tribute of a freewill offering from your hand, which you shall give as the Lord your God blesses you. And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite who is within your towns, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow who are among you, at the place that the Lord your God will choose, to make his name dwell there. You shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt; and you shall be careful to observe these statutes. “You shall keep the Feast of Booths seven days, when you have gathered in the produce from your threshing floor and your winepress. You shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow who are within your towns. … – Deuteronomy 16:10-17:20
“When the Lord your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, and clears away many nations before you, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and mightier than yourselves, and when the Lord your God gives them over to you, and you defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. You shall make no covenant with them and show no mercy to them. You shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons, for they would turn away your sons from following me, to serve other gods. Then the anger of the Lord would be kindled against you, and he would destroy you quickly. But thus shall you deal with them: you shall break down their altars and dash in pieces their pillars and chop down their Asherim and burn their carved images with fire. … – Deuteronomy 7:1-26
But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works, – Revelation 2:20-22 And the priest of Zeus, whose temple was at the entrance to the city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates and wanted to offer sacrifice with the crowds. But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their garments and rushed out into the crowd, crying out, “Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men, of like nature with you, and we bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. In past generations he allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways. Yet he did not leave himself without witness, for he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.” … – Acts 14:13-15:29
