17
For just as someone's dish is useless when it is broken,
18
so are their gods when they have been set up in the temples. Their eyes are full of the dust raised by the feet of those who enter. And just as the gates are shut on every side against anyone who has offended a king, as though under sentence of death, so the priests make their temples secure with doors and locks and bars, in order that they may not be plundered by robbers.
19
They light more lamps for them than they light for themselves, though their gods can see none of them.
20
They are just like a beam of the temple, but their hearts, it is said, are eaten away when crawling creatures from the earth devour them and their robes. They do not notice
21
when their faces have been blackened by the smoke of the temple.
22
Bats, swallows, and birds alight on their bodies and heads; and so do cats.
23
From this you will know that they are not gods; so do not fear them.
24
As for the gold that they wear for beauty—it will not shine unless someone wipes off the tarnish; for even when they were being cast, they did not feel it.
25
They are bought without regard to cost, but there is no breath in them.
26
Having no feet, they are carried on the shoulders of others, revealing to humankind their worthlessness. And those who serve them are put to shame
27
because, if any of these gods falls to the ground, they themselves must pick it up. If anyone sets it upright, it cannot move itself; and if it is tipped over, it cannot straighten itself. Gifts are placed before them just as before the dead.